Stephen David Durrant (1902–1975) was an American mammalogist from Salt Lake City, Utah and past president of the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

known for his work with pocket gophers of the genus '' Thomomys'' and other rodents of the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

. The "foremost mammalogist in Utah," he was professor of zoology at the University of Utah for over 40 years. Born October 11, 1902, Durant served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Switzerland after high school. After his return, he enrolled in the University of Utah, earning an A.B. in French in 1929. He stayed at the University of Utah for graduate school, pursuing zoology and earning a M.S. under

Ralph V. Chamberlin Ralph Vary Chamberlin (January 3, 1879October 31, 1967) was an American biologist, ethnographer, and historian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a faculty member of the University of Utah for over 25 years, where he helped establish the School of ...

in 1931. After pursuing doctoral research first at the University of Minnesota, then University of California, Berkeley, and working several jobs while raising a family, he received his Ph.D in 1950 from the University of Kansas. Over the course of his career he described 37 new

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 ...

or races of assorted small mammals, including gophers, mice, kangaroo rats, beavers, and pikas. He died from lung cancer on November 11, 1975. Durrant's 1952 book ''Mammals of Utah: Taxonomy and Distribution'' presented taxonomic synopses of 247 species and subspecies of Utah mammals, as well as Durrant's explanations for the origins of such diversity: largely that the geographic and hydrological history of the region, especially the prehistoric Lake Bonneville, promotes

reproductive isolation The mechanisms of reproductive isolation are a collection of evolutionary mechanisms, behaviors and physiological processes critical for speciation. They prevent members of different species from producing offspring, or ensure that any offspring ...

and subsequent

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

or subspeciation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Durrant, Stephen David 1902 births 1975 deaths American mammalogists Scientists from Salt Lake City American Mormon missionaries in Switzerland University of Utah faculty University of Utah alumni University of Kansas alumni 20th-century American zoologists Latter Day Saints from Utah