Richard G. Doubt

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Richard George Zweifel (born November 5, 1926 in Los Angeles , California ) is an American herpetologist . His research focus is the study of the ecology and systematics of reptiles and amphibians , especially of North America and Australasia.

Life

In 1950, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles . In 1954 he was with the Dissertation Ecology, Systematics and distribution in the boylei Group of the genus Rana for Ph.D. PhD in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley . In the same year he became an employee at the American Museum of Natural History , first as assistant curator and from 1960 as deputy curator. He was a curator from 1965 to 1989, and from 1968 to 1980 he was twice chairman of the herpetological department of the American Museum of Natural History. In 1989 he retired as a curator emeritus. In the following years he continued his research work in the Southwestern Research Station of the American Museum of Natural History in Portal , Arizona .

During his 35 years at the American Museum of Natural History, Zweifel developed a broad research program. These included studies on the critical maximum temperatures in salamanders, on temperature adaptation in frog larvae, on the influence of temperature on frog calls, on the genetics of the color pattern polymorphism in king snakes, and long-term studies on the dynamics of small populations of toads and ornamental turtles. In 1977, the Hall of Reptiles of Amphibians in the American Museum of Natural History was opened, in the establishment of which Doubt played a key role.

Doubtless most productive field studies have taken him to the southwestern United States, New Guinea, and Australia. He also went on expeditions to Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.

Doubt has published more than 90 scientific articles as well as contributions to journals and encyclopedias. He is a member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, the Herpetologists' League, the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the Ecological Society of America, the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and Young Men's Heathen Association.

Dedication names

According to Doubt, the reptile and amphibian species Lepidodactylus zweifeli , Cophixalus zweifeli , Enhydrina doubles , Erythrolamprus doubles , Lithobates doubles , Litoria doubles , Oscaecilia doubles and Xenorhina doubles . In 1959 Richard G. Zweifel and Oakes A. Plimpton were honored in the type epithet of the Van Gelder bat ( Bauerus dubiaquercus ), which is composed of the Latin words dubia = doubt and quercus = oak (English: Oakes) .

Works (selection)

  • Ecology, distribution and systematics of frogs of the "Rana boylei" group. Univ. California pub. Zool. 54 (4), 1955: p. 207-292.
  • Australian Frogs of the Family Microhylidae , 1985. ISBN 99953-48-60-8 .
  • Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians . (with Harold G. Cogger and David Kirshner), 1992. ISBN 0-12-178560-2 . (German: Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians , Bechtermünz Verlag, 1999)
  • Encyclopedia of Animals: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians . (with Harold George Cogger, Joseph Michael Forshaw , Edwin Gould and George McKay), 2001 ISBN 1-875137-99-8 .

literature

  • Richard George Doubt. American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences, Gale, 2008. Biography in Context, online. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  • RG Zweifel and Successors: Second Half of the 20th Century In: Charles W. Meyers: A history of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, No. 252, 2000, p. 60
  • Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, 2013. ISBN 978-1-907807-41-1 , p. 241

Individual evidence

  1. ^ About the Department . American Museum of Natural History, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, Department of Herpetology. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  2. ^ RG Zweifel and Successors: Second Half of the 20th Century In: Charles W. Meyers: A history of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, No. 252, 2000, p. 60
  3. ^ Engstrom, Lee & Wilson: Bauerus dubiaquercus , Mammalian Species , No. 282 (1987): pp. 1-3
personal data
SURNAME Doubt, Richard G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Doubt Richard George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American herpetologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California