Roger Conant (herpetologist)

Roger Conant ( born May 6, 1909 Mamaroneck (New York), † 19 December 2003 Albuquerque ) was an American herpetologist, author, teacher and conservationist.

Curriculum vitae

Conant grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father died early, and to help his mother, he took as a teenager at a temporary job in the Philadelphia Zoo. Here began his lifelong passion for reptiles.

In 1929, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and worked as the head of the reptile department, and later as chief curator of the local zoo. In 1935, he came back as head ( curator) of the reptile department at the Philadelphia Zoo. From 1946 to 1947, Conant President of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and in 1952 co-founder of the Herpetological Society Philadelphia. In 1967 he was promoted to director of the zoo of Philadelphia.

Because of the illness of his wife Isabelle Hunt Conant, who has contributed many photos as an animal photographer in his field guides, Conant moved in 1973 to Albuquerque and accepted a professorship at the University of New Mexico. His wife Isabelle died in 1976. 1979 he married Kathryn Gloyd, widow of his friend and colleague Howard K. Gloyd.

On 19 December 2003 Roger Conant died of cancer.

Scientific achievements

Conant was after he had written in 1958 one of the first complete determination of books on North American reptiles one of the famous herpetologists of the United States. From 1976, he completed his monograph on the genus triangle head vipers vipers ( Agkistrodon ), which he started in the 30s and later Howard K. Gloyd had continued.

In total, he wrote twelve books and some 240 scientific papers.

He described many new species of snakes, including several species of American swimming snakes ( Nerodia ) and garter snakes of the genus ( Thamnophis ). Even in the year he died, he described new subspecies of the Mexican garter snake.

Selected works

  • Autobiography: A Field Guide to the Life and Times of Roger Conant, Canyonlands Publishing Group, 1997 ISBN 0-9657446-0-4
  • A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians: Eastern and Central North America (co-author: Joseph T. Collins), 1st edition 1958, 2nd ed. 1975, Houghton Mifflin (P): ISBN 0-3951997-7-8
  • Peterson's Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of the Eastern United States, 1958
  • North American Water Snakes: A Natural History, University of Oklahoma Press, 2004: ISBN 0-8061359-9-9
  • Reptiles and Amphibians ( Peterson First Guides ), Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999: ISBN 0-3959719-5-0
  • Snakes of the Agkistrodon Complex: A Monographic Review ( co-author: Howard K. Gloyd ) Ssar Pubns, 1990: ISBN 0-9169842-0-6
  • The Reptiles of Virginia, Smithsonian Books, 1997, ISBN 1-5609875-4-5
Herpetology Salem (Massachusetts) Roger Conant (Salem, Massachusetts founder) December 19 Albuquerque, New Mexico Brown water snake Name Authority File
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