Hobart Muir Smith, born Frederick William Stouffer (September 26, 1912 – March 4, 2013), was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
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 rep ...
. He is credited with describing more than 100 new species of American
reptiles
and
amphibians. In addition, he has been honored by having at least six
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
named after him, including the
southwestern blackhead snake (''Tantilla hobartsmithi)'',
Smith's earth snake (''Uropeltis grandis''),
Smith's arboreal alligator lizard (''Abronia smithi)'', Hobart's anadia (''
Anadia hobarti)'', Hobart Smith's anole (''
Anolis hobartsmithi)'', and Smith's rose-bellied lizard (''
Sceloporus smithi'')''. At 100 years of age, Smith continued to be an active and productive herpetologist. Although he published on a wide range of herpetological subjects, his main focus throughout his career was on the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico, including taxonomy, bibliographies, and history. Having published more than 1,600 manuscripts, he surpassed all contemporaries and remains the most published herpetologist of all time.
Early life and education
Smith was born in
Stanwood, Iowa on September 26, 1912. Smith attained his bachelor of science in 1932 from
Kansas State University, under
Howard K. Gloyd Howard Kay Gloyd (February 12, 1902 – August 7, 1978) was an American herpetologist who is credited with describing several new species and subspecies of reptiles, such as the Florida cottonmouth, '' Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti''.
Also, he ...
, and attained his masters (in 1933) and doctorate (in 1936) at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
under Dr.
Edward Harrison Taylor
Edward Harrison Taylor (April 23, 1889 – June 16, 1978) was an American herpetologist from Missouri.
Family
Taylor was born in Maysville, Missouri, to George and Loretta Taylor. He had an older brother, Eugene.
Education
Taylor studied at th ...
, where his thesis was a revision of the lizard genus ''
Sceloporus''. He also participated in several specimen collecting trips to Mexico.
Career
In 1936-37 Smith was awarded a
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to:
* National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development
* National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome
* National Research Council (United States), part of ...
Fellowship at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, where he wrote ''The Mexican and Central American Lizards of the Genus Sceloporus'' (1939). In 1937 he worked for both the Chicago Academy of Sciences and the
Field Museum of Natural History. He was given a fellowship by the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
to collect specimens in Mexico, and collected over 20,000. From 1941 until 1945 he was a
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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
professor at the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...
, in
New York. In 1945 he returned to the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
as an associate professor and wrote the ''Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the US and of Canada''. In 1946 he moved to
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and became an associate professor of wildlife management at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
and wrote ''Checklist and key to snakes of Mexico'' and ''Checklist and key to amphibians of Mexico'' with Taylor. From 1947 until 1968 he was a professor of zoology at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
. He retired in 1968 and moved to
Boulder, Colorado, where he became a professor of biology at the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
. In 1972 he became chairman of, what is now, the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. In 1983 he retired, becoming a professor emeritus and continued his personal research with over 1,600 publications, including 29 books.
Personal life
Born Frederick William Stouffer in 1912, he was adopted in 1916 by Charles and Frances Smith, farmers. In 1938 he married Rozella Pearl Beverly Blood (who became
Rozella Pearl Beverly Blood Smith, 1911–1987), who helped him publish his extensive collection of herpetological notes. In 1942 he named a species of lizard in honor of her, ''
Celestus rozellae''.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Rozella", p. 228).] A subspecies of snake, ''
Tantillita lintoni rozellae'', is also named in honor of her.
[
]
Selected bibliography
*Smith, H. M. 1939. ''The Mexican and Central American Lizards of the Genus Sceloporus.'' Zoological Series, Field Museum of Natural History Vol. 26, No.1: 429 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and E. H. Taylor. 1945. ''An Annotated Checklist and Key to the Snakes of Mexico.'' United States National Museum, Bulletin 187: 1-239.
*Smith, H. M. 1946. ''Handbook of Lizards: Lizards of the United States and of Canada.'' Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York. xxi, 557 pp
1995 pbk.
*Smith, H. M. and E. H. Taylor. 1948. ''An Annotated Checklist and Key to the Amphibia of Mexico.'' United States National Museum, Bulletin 194: 1-118.
*''Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas'' (1950)
*Smith, H. M. and E. H. Taylor. 1950. ''An Annotated Checklist and Key to the Reptiles of Mexico Exclusive of Snakes.'' United States National Museum, Bulletin 199: 1-253.
*''Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar American Species'' with Herbert S. Zim
Herbert Spencer Zim (July 12, 1909 – December 5, 1994) was a naturalist, author, editor and educator best known as the founder (1945) and editor-in-chief of the Golden Guides series of nature books.
Biography
Zim was born 1909 in New York ...
(1953, 1956)
*''Reptiles and Amphibians - A Guide to Familiar American Species'' (1958)
*''Poisonous Amphibians and Reptiles'' (1959)
*Smith, H. M. 1961. ''Evolution of Chordate Structure.'' Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 529 pp.
*''Snakes as Pets'' (1965)
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1969. ''Early Foundations of Mexican Herpetology: An annotated and indexed bibliography of the herpetological publications of Alfredo Dugés, 1826-1910.'' University of Illinois Press. Urbana, Illinois. 85 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1971. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. I. Analysis of the Literature on the Mexican Axolotl.'' Eric Lundburg. Augusta, West Virginia. xxvii, 245 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1973. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. II. Analysis of the Literature Exclusive of the Mexican Axolotl.'' Eric Lundburg. Augusta, West Virginia. xxxiii, 367 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1976. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. III, Source Analysis and Index for Mexican Reptiles.'' John Johnson, North Bennington, Vermont. 997 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1976. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. IV. Source Analysis and Index for Mexican Amphibians.'' John Johnson. North Bennington, Vermont. 254 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1977. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. V. Guide to Mexican Amphisbaenians and Crocodilians, Bibliographic Addenda II.'' John Johnson. North Bennington, Vermont. 187 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1979. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. VI, Guide to Mexican Turtles, Bibliographic Addendum III.'' John Johnson, North Bennington, Vermont. xviii, 1044 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Rozella B. Smith. 1993. ''Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, Vol. VII, Bibliographic Addendum IV and Index to Bibliographic Addenda II-IV 1979-1991.'' University Press of Colorado, Niwot, Colorado. ix, 1082 pp.
*Smith, H. M. and Edmund D. Brodie, Jr. 1978. ''Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification.'' Golden Press. Western Publishing Co. Inc. Racine, Wisconsin. 240 pp.
*Smith, Hobart M. and Dave Chiszar. 1996. ''Species-Group Taxa of the False Coral Snake Genus Pliocercus.'' Ramus Publishing. 112 pp.
*Lemos Espinal, Julio A. and Hobart M. Smith. 2007. ''Amphibians and Reptiles of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico.'' Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. México, D.F. xiii, 613 pp.
References
External links
Biographies of People Honored in the Herpetological Nomenclature of North America
Hobart Muir Smith (Historical Perspectives), by David Chiszar, Edwin McConkey, and Margaret M. Stewart. ''Copeia'' 2004:2, May 5, 2004: pp. 418-424
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Hobart M.
1912 births
2013 deaths
American zoologists
American herpetologists
American nature writers
American male non-fiction writers
Science teachers
Kansas State University alumni
University of Kansas alumni
University of Colorado faculty
American centenarians
Men centenarians
People from Cedar County, Iowa