The Reptile Database (iNat's authority for reptile taxa) is no longer available?

Curators
1

when I click on the main URL that I usually follow, I get this (original and translated versions shown)

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if I click on the next result down, I can get to this homepage, but then searching for anything takes me to the same error page as above

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2

Back now ?

http://www.reptile-database.org/db-info/taxa.html#Ser

? Not. The next step is dead.

3

thatā€™sā€¦ concerning. I use this website a lot.

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4

I went to check it out right now and it is still down / web hosting disable.

Does anyone know if this database had any social media where they could communicate the problem?

5

The latest checklist and few years old complete database are available at this link for now:

http://www.reptile-database.org/data/

( i am guessing the site wont vanish and is facing hosting server/bills issue maybe)

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6

Iā€™ve often received a warning from my computer that the Reptile Database is not a secure website, so I have limited my use of the site. Which is concerning because itā€™s a valuable reference.

7

I just tried a test search and it worked for meā€¦

Search results | The Reptile Database

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8

It was probably some transient misconfiguration at the web host, no drama, it happens to the best of us.

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9

You can access the species accounts securely through https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/

http://www.reptile-database.org/ is working for me, but appearing as a not secure website (no https)

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10

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/ working for me. can get search results, load species pages.

11

thanks all, glad itā€™s back to working

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12

Can someone explain why the main database site is an unsecured URL, whereas the .cz mirror version ā€“ assuming it is an up-to-date version ā€“ is https?

13

different routing configurations, https one is served through cloudfare cdn/reverse proxy while the other isnt.

although i cant guess what exact reasons they had for that - maybe something to do with cloudfare CDN for global reach performance and security, while the other looks niche (all actual links in it are linked to https cz one in turn) and isnt gonna benefit much from moving to cloudfare with different billing structure or migration complexity for legacy low traffic static site.

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14

Thanks. Iā€™m just trying to figure out if the secure .cz site is in fact up-to-date. The news items on the .cz page kind of suggest itā€™s three years behind. And Iā€™m not willing to spend time browsing the unsecured site. Donā€™t want to belabor this, but if this database is iNatā€™s go-to site for current taxonomy Iā€™d like it to be clear the .cz site can be used for that.

Edit: a quick comparison of Aspidoscelis inornatus and Aspidoscelis arizonae ( a recent split off from A. inornatus) indicate the .cz site is NOT current.

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15

The data hosted at the ReptileDB main static site (a basic, non-https .org website, used simply to expose their goals and to offer downloadable files) is from September 2025, thus pretty much up-to-date.

The dynamic rendering of data as an interactive website complete with search engine and stuff (kindly hosted on the servers of a pet shop, hence the ā€˜httpsā€™ requirement for this whole .cz domain) is also up-to-date, as it seems to feature the latest changes listed in the xlsx file (cf. ā€˜changes this versionā€™ tab of the xlsx file).

For example a search for ā€œSibon nigralbusā€ (ā€˜new speciesā€™ according to the checklist xlsx file dated Sep '25) returns correctly something. And ā€œAspidoscelis arizonaeā€ is indeed present on the dynamic site, having been recently ā€˜eleved from subspeciesā€™ according to the same Sept '25 xlsx file.

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16

Youā€™re correct, I thought I had seen discrepancies between the two but I was mistaken. Peter Uetz also set me straight.

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