Andreas Schmitz

Andreas Robert Wilfried Schmitz (born March 16, 1971) is a German herpetologist.

In 1995, Schmitz became a staff member at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK) in Bonn, Germany. In 1998, he completed his diploma thesis on the systematics and zoogeography of the herpetofauna of a montane rainforest region in Cameroon under the supervision of Wolfgang Böhme at the University of Bonn. From 1998 to 1999, he worked as a research assistant on a paleontological project at the university's Institute of Paleontology. In 2003, Schmitz earned his doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) with the dissertation titled Taxonomic and phylogenetic studies on scincid lizards (Reptilia: Scincidae), also under Böhme’s supervision. His research involved several field expeditions to tropical Africa and Indonesia. Since 2003, he has been head of research in the herpetology department at the Natural History Museum of Geneva (MHNG), Switzerland. Schmitz's research focuses on the systematics, taxonomy, phylogenetics, and conservation of a wide range of amphibian and reptile groups, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia. One of his main areas of interest is the Cameroon line, a volcanic mountain chain in western Cameroon with high levels of endemism, where species have been isolated on individual peaks over millions of years. Another key focus of his work is West Africa.^[1]

The species Acontias schmitzi and Trapelus schmitzi are named in his honor.

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