Albert Schwartz (zoologist)
| Albert Schwartz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1923 |
| Died | 1992 |
| Occupation | zoologist |
Albert Schwartz (1923–1992) was a zoologist from the United States. He worked extensively with the herpetofauna of Florida and the West Indies, and later, with butterflies.[1][2] He is dubbed as one of the "Kings of West Indian Anole Taxonomy".[3]
Career
Schwartz obtained his PhD from the University of Michigan in mammalogy in 1952. Already at that time, he had a keen interest in amphibians and reptiles, as well as in warmer climates.[1] Schwartz spent most of his professional working life at Miami-Dade Community College;[1][2] he was also supported by a family trust, which he used to fund his own activities as well as field expeditions by others. He was a Research Associate of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History,[4] and also an associate of the Florida Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), and the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[5] Starting in 1954, he worked extensively in Cuba, and described numerous frogs[1] as well as three anole species from there.[3] After the revolution in Cuba, he shifted his attention to Hispaniola,[1] where he again described numerous frog species[1] and five anoles.[3] In the late 1970s, when Schwartz saw the number of new amphibians and reptiles he could describe from the West Indies diminishing, he shifted his attention to butterflies.[1]
Legacy
Schwartz published 230 papers on West Indian biology. 80 of the amphibian and reptile species he had described were recognized as valid in 1993;[1] he is credited to have described 14% of the entire West Indian herpetofauna.[3] A number of species are named in his honor, including the following:[2][6][5]
- Eleutherodactylus schwartzi — Schwartz's robber frog, Virgin Islands coqui
- Schwartzius — subgenus of Eleutherodactylus
- Anolis wattsi schwartzi — Watts' anole
- Typhlops schwartzi — Schwartz' worm snake
- Sphaerodactylus schwartzi — Guantanamo collared sphaero
- Tarentola albertschwartzi — a gekko
- Tropidophis schwartzi — a dwarf boa
Works
- Schwartz, A., and R. Thomas. 1975. A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp.
- Schwartz, A., and R.W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1049-7.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Duellman, William E.; Thomas, Richard; Henderson, Robert W. (1993). "Albert Schwartz, 13 Sept. 1923-18 Oct. 1992". Copeia 1993 (3): 927–932. JSTOR 1447281.
- 1 2 3 Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2013). The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Exeter, England: Pelagic Publishing. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-907807-44-2.
- 1 2 3 4 Glor, Rich (19 December 2011). "The Kings of West Indian Anole Taxonomy IV: Albert Schwartz". Anole Annals. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ↑ Various authors (1978). Carnegie Museum of Natural History: 1978 Annual Report. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 56 pp. ("Amphibians & Reptiles", p. 39).
- 1 2 Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Schwartz", p. 239)
- ↑ Albert Schwartz in the French Wikipedia.