Douglas Athon "Dag" Rossman (July 4, 1936 – July 23, 2015) was a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

specializing in

garter snakes Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the sub ...

. He studied at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, where he was awarded a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1961.Photo
from the University of Florida. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. He was a professor of

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

at the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

. He co-authored ''The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana'' (), and also ''The Garter Snakes: Evolution and Ecology'' (). His wife, Nita Jane RossmanRossman DA (1958).
A New Race of ''Desmognathus fuscus'' from the South-Central United States
. ''Herpetologica'' 14 (3): 158-160. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. (born 1936), also has an interest in herpetology and even had a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

named after her: ''

Thamnophis saurita nitae The bluestripe ribbon snake (''Thamnophis saurita nitae''), which belongs in the same family as the garter snakes, is a subspecies of the ribbon snake that occurs along the Gulf Coast in Florida Florida is a state located in the Southea ...

'', a subspecies of the

eastern ribbon snake ''Thamnophis sauritus sauritus'', the eastern ribbon snake or common ribbon snake, is one of four subspecies of the ribbon snake found in the southeastern United States. Some similar species are the western ribbon snake, common garter snake, ...

. She had collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

for this subspecies on a field trip with her husband for his dissertation research, and he named it in her honor.Beltz, Ellin (2006).
Biographies of People Honored in the Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America
'. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. Rossman also wrote ''The Nine Worlds: A Dictionary of Norse Mythology'' (1983), ''Where Legends Live: A Pictorial Guide to Cherokee Mythic Places'' (1988), and several other works related to

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

. Douglas Rossman is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Mexican garter snake, ''

Thamnophis rossmani Rossman's garter snake (''Thamnophis rossmani'') is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Mexico. Etymology The specific name ''rossmani'' is in honor of the American herpetologist Douglas A. Rossman. Geographic ...

''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Rossman", p. 227).

References

Further reading