Bobby Witcher (1916–1966) was an American herpetologist best known for his carefree handling of venomous snakes.

Life

Born in

Sweetwater, Texas Sweetwater is a municipality in and the seat of Nolan County, Texas, United States. It is 123 miles southeast of Lubbock and 40 miles west of Abilene, Texas. Its population was 10,906 at the 2010 census. History The town's name "Sweetwater" is t ...

in 1916, he was loved for his contagious enthusiasm for

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

and

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

. Bobby collected in the field for many years and freely shared his knowledge of herpetology. Although he never published any articles, many of his discoveries and observations have been included in the works of others. Bobby died in 1966 from a cottonmouth bite in the swamps of the

Mingo National Wildlife Refuge The Mingo National Wildlife Refuge is a 21,676-acre (87.7-km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in northwestern Stoddard and southeastern Wayne counties in Missouri. Its southwesternmost portion lies on the shores of Lake Wappapello. Named afte ...

in southeastern Missouri.

Legacy

Bobby's legacy has been established through the Bobby Witcher Society, with chapters throughout the United States, and the Bobby Witcher Memorial Scholarship*, both of which were founded by Drs. Metter and Carl Gerhardt, with support from Paul Brown, one of Metter's graduate students. Dr. Robert Powell, another of Metter's students, honored Bobby by naming the herpetology collection at Avila University (Kansas City), the Bobby Witcher Memorial Collection. ''Eimeria witcheri'', a

coccidia Coccidia (Coccidiasina) are a subclass of microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled obligate intracellular parasites belonging to the apicomplexan class Conoidasida. As obligate intracellular parasites, they must live and reproduce within an a ...

n parasite of the

worm lizard Amphisbaenia (called amphisbaenians or worm lizards) is a group of usually legless squamates, comprising over 200 extant species. Amphisbaenians are characterized by their long bodies, the reduction or loss of the limbs, and rudimentary eyes. As ...

, ''Amphisbaena manni'', was named in honor of Bobby.(Huntington et al. 1996). Bobby's legacy has inspired many herpetologists, and his scholarship has benefited numerous students. * After Dr. Metter's death in 2001, the Bobby Witcher Memorial Scholarship became the Dean E. Metter Memorial Award, which is administered by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

References

External links

Dean E. Metter Memorial Award

Huntington, C., Cisper, G.L., Smith, D.D., Powell, R., Parmerlee, J.S., and Lathrop, A. 1996. "Two new Eimeria (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from Amphisbaena manni (Amphisbaenia: Amphisbaenidae) in the Dominican Republic". Caribbean Journal of Science 32: 50-53.

Brack, V. Jr., J.O. Whitaker, Jr. & S.E. Pruitt. 2004 Acknowledgments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witcher, Bobby American herpetologists University of Missouri alumni 1966 deaths 1916 births People from Sweetwater, Texas 20th-century Irish zoologists 20th-century American zoologists