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Larry David Wilson

Larry David Wilson (born April 10, 1940) is a world renowned American herpetologists and environmentalist, who taught for 35 years at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Florida, and has carried on research on tropical American amphibians and reptiles for more than half a century.

Early life __________________________________________________________________

Wilson was born in Taylorville, Illinois, on April 10, 1940 to Ward Wendell Wilson and Mary Lillian Peek. He lived in that town until he was 12 years of age, when his parents moved the family to Decatur, Illinois, where he attended junior high school and high school. He also attended the first two years of his undergraduate college work at Millikin University, also located in Decatur, Illinois.

Wilson graduated from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Thereafter, he pursued graduate study in zoology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, first graduating with a Master of Science degree in 1965 and later with a Doctorate in Zoology, with a major in herpetology in 1968.

Career __________________________________________________________________

Wilson held a temporary 3-year teaching position at Southwestern Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), located in Lafayette. With the conclusion of that position, Wilson went in search of a permanent teaching position, in connection with a move to Miami, Florida in 1971. After a year in that city, he was successful in finding a tenure-track position at Miami-Dade Community College (now Miami-Dade College), beginning in 1972. Wilson spent the remainder of his teaching career until his retirement in 2007, first in the Division of Inter-curricular Studies and then in the Department of Biology, responsible for courses in majors-level biology, zoology, and environmental science.

Research __________________________________________________________________

While an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois, Wilson developed an interest in tropical American herpetology under the tutelage of Hobart M. Smith, then the leading authority on the herpetology of Mexico. Dr. Smith suggested several institutions where Wilson might pursue his graduate work, but eventually Wilson accepted an offer to become a student of Douglas A. Rossman, then beginning a lengthy career in the Department of Biology at Louisiana State University. While at LSU, Wilson undertook extensive field research throughout the state of Louisiana. In 1966, however, he joined Ernest A. Liner, then a notable amateur herpetologist, on a seminal general collecting trip throughout much of Mexico, which experience solidified Wilson’s interest in tropical American herpetology. In the following year, he chanced to join John R. Meyer on a trip to Honduras, which trip established the trajectory of Wilson’s research for several decades thereafter. That trip in 1967 encompassed three months in the field and was followed by another 3-month stint in Honduras, again with Meyer, during which significant research projects were initiated, beginning with Meyer and later involving James R. McCranie. Field work in Honduras encompassed the years 1967 to 2010, a 43-year period of time that comprised the majority of Wilson’s scientific career. In 2007, Wilson continued his work in Honduras, then in the company of a former student Josiah H. Townsend, with whom he has been working in the field since 1999. After 2010, Wilson’s research interests shifted from Honduras to Mexico. In 2012, after a trip to Costa Rica to participate in a conservation workshop for Central American reptiles, Wilson returned to the US in the company of a colleague Jerry D. Johnson, who is a professor of biology at the University of Texas at El Paso and accompanied Johnson in connection with a field biology course at the Indio Mountains Research Station, a 40,000-acre research facility located near Van Horn, Texas. It was there that he met another colleague Vicente Mata-Silva. During that sojourn initial plans were made to develop a research partnership, which eventually evolved in the Mesoamerican Research Group (MRG), comprising a group of academic colleagues devoted to research on the composition, distribution, and conservation of the herpetofauna of Mexico and Central America. This research group currently comprises the following individuals; Larry David Wilson, Jerry D. Johnson, Vicente Mata-Silva, Louis W. Porras, Lydia Allison Fucsko, Dominic L. DeSantis, and Arturo Rocha who have conducted significant research over the period of its ten years of existence (see publications listed below).

Over the course of his prolific 58-year publishing career, Wilson has authored, to date, 473 scientific publications, including six books dealing with amphibians and reptiles of tropical America. During this period, Wilson also has described 76 currently recognized new species of amphibians and reptiles. During his career, six species have been named in his honour.

One of his most significant aspects of his scientific career has been his study of the species of the genus Tantilla, the second largest of the snake genera in the Western Hemisphere. This genus currently comprises 68 species, 13 of which have been named by Wilson or Wilson and various coauthors. Wilson has authored 77 papers on the systematics of members of the genus Tantilla, the most significant of which are as follows:

Wilson, Larry David. and John R. Meyer. 1971. A revision of the taeniata group of the colubrid snake genus Tantilla. Herpetologica 27: 11–40.

Wilson, Larry David, and Jaime Villa. 1973. Colubrid snakes of the genus Tantilla from Nicaragua. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 72: 93–96.

Wilson, Larry David. 1976. Variation in the colubrid snake Tantilla semicincta (Dumeríl, Bibron, and Dumeríl), with comments on pattern dimorphism. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 75: 42–48.

Wilson, Larry David, James R. McCranie, and Louis Porras. 1977. Taxonomic notes on Tantilla (Serpentes: Colubridae) from tropical America. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Science 76: 49–56.

Porras, Louis, and Larry David Wilson. 1979. New distributional records for Tantilla oolitica Telford (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Florida Keys. Journal of Herpetology 13: 218–220.

Wilson, Larry David. 1979. A new snake of the genus Tantilla from Ecuador. Herpetologica 35: 274–276.

Wilson, Larry David, and Cesar E. Mena. 1980. Systematics of the melanocephala group of the colubrid snake genus Tantilla. Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History (11): 1–58.

Wilson, Larry David, and John R. Meyer. 1981. Systematics of the calamarina group of the colubrid snake genus Tantilla. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology (42): 1–25.

Wilson, Larry David. 1982. Tantilla. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 307.1–307.4.

Wilson, Larry David. 1982. A review of the colubrid snakes of the genus Tantilla of Central America. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology (52): 1–77.

Wilson, Larry David. 1983. A new species of Tantilla (Serpentes: Colubridae) of the taeniata group from Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Herpetology, 17(1): 54–59.

Wilson, Larry David. 1984. Additional notes on colubrid snakes of the genus Tantilla from tropical America. Herpetological Review, 15(1): 8–10.

Wilson, Larry David. 1987. A résumé of the colubrid snakes of the genus Tantilla of South America. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology (68): 1–35.

Wilson, Larry David, R. Kathryn Vaughan, and James R. Dixon. 1999. Another new species of Tantilla of the taeniata group from Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Herpetology, 33(1): 1–5.

Wilson, Larry David. 1999. Checklist and key to the species of the genus Tantilla (Serpentes: Colubridae), with some distributional commentary. Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service no. 122: 1–34.

Wilson, Larry David, and James R. McCranie. 1999. The systematic status of Honduran populations of the Tantilla taeniata group (Serpentes: Colubridae), with notes on other populations. Amphibia Reptilia, 20: 326–329.

Dixon, James R., R. Kathryn Vaughan, and Larry David Wilson. 2000. The taxonomy of Tantilla rubra and allied taxa (Serpentes: Colubridae). The Southwestern Naturalist 45(2): 141–153.

Wilson, Larry David, and Jonathan A. Campbell. 2000. A new species of the calamarina group of the colubrid snake genus Tantilla from Guerrero, Mexico. Proceeding of the Biological Society of Washington 113: 820–827.

Gotte, Steve W., and Larry David Wilson. 2005. Commentary on the type material of Tantilla gracilis Baird and Girard, 1853, and Tantilla nigriceps Kennicott, 1860 (Reptilia Squamata), with a neotype designation for T. nigriceps. Proceeding of the Biological Society of Washington 118: 596–604.

Townsend, Josiah H., Larry David Wilson, Melissa Medina-Flores, and Luis A. Herrera. 2013. A new species of centipede snake in the Tantilla taeniata group (Squamata: Colubridae) from premontane rainforest in Refugio de Vida Silvestre Texiguat, Honduras. Journal of Herpetology 47: 191–200.

Wilson, Larry David, and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2014. Snakes of the genus Tantilla (Squamata: Colubridae) of Mexico: Taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 4–95.

Ramírez-Bautista, Aurelio, Larry David Wilson, and Christian Berriozabal-Islas. 2014. Morphological variation in a population of Tantilla calamarina (Squamata: Colubridae) from Guerrero, Mexico, with comments on fossoriality in the calamarina group and Geagras redimitus. Herpetology Notes 7: 797–805.

Wilson, Larry David and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2015. A checklist and key to the snakes of the Tantilla clade (Squamata: Colubridae), with comments on taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 418–498.

Rocha, Arturo, Vicente Mata-Silva, Elí García-Padilla, Dominic L. DeSantis, and Larry David Wilson. 2016. Third known specimen and first locality record in Oaxaca, Mexico, for Tantilla sertula Wilson and Campbell, 2000 (Squamata: Colubridae). Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 771–774.

Batista, Abel, Konrad Mebert, Sebastian Lotzkat, and Larry David Wilson. 2016. A new species of centipede snake of the genus Tantilla (Squamata: Colubridae) from an isolated premontane forest in eastern Panama. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 948–960.

Hofmann, Erich P., Russell J. Gray, Larry David Wilson, and Josiah H. Townsend. 2017. Discovery of the first male specimen of Tantilla hendersoni Stafford, 2004 (Squamata: Colubridae), from a new locality in central Belize. Herpetology Notes 10: 53–57.

Nolasco-Luna, José Rafael, Fabio G. Cupul-Magaña, Armando H. Escobedo-Galván, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Larry David Wilson. 2019. Rediscovery of Tantilla bocourti (Günther, 1895) on Isla María Cleofas, Nayarit, Mexico (Squamata: Colubridae). Herpetology Notes 12: 343–346.

Antúnez-Fonseca, Cristopher Alberto, Josué Ramos-Galdamez, Omar Eduardo Jiménez-Córdova, and Larry David Wilson. 2020. First continental record of Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861 (Squamata, Colubridae) for Honduras. Check List 16:1­–6.

Antúnez-Fonseca, Cristopher, Jocelyn A. Castro, Farlem G. España, Josiah H. Townsend, and Larry David Wilson. 2020. A new species of Tantilla of the taeniata group (Squamata: Colubridae) from Refugio de Vida Silvestre Barras de Cuero y Salado in Caribbean coastal Honduras. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14: 86–102.

Dávalos-Martínez, Aldo, Víctor Fernando Záiazar-Gutiérrez, Daniel Cruz-Sáenz, Eduardo Daniel Roldán-Olvera, and Larry David Wilson. 2021. The Michoacán Centipede Snake, Tantilla cascadae Wilson & Meyer, 1981 (Squamata: Colubridae): New record for Jalisco, with notes on conservation, biogeography, and a key to the species of the genus in western Mexico. Herpetology Notes 14: 263–268.

Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo, Lydia Allison Fucsko, Victor H. Jiménez Arcos, Larry David Wilson, and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2022. Out of the Past: A new species of Tantilla of the calamarina group (Squamata: Colubridae) from southeastern coastal Guerrero, Mexico, with comments on relationships among members of the group. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 16: 120–132.

Past his first trip to Honduras in 1967, Wilson made an addition 42 trips throughout the country. This work led to the discovery of many new species that were described in publications that appeared in the years from 1980 to 2020. Among many publications, this work led to the appearance of four of the books listed in the section below entitled “Works.”

Past his retirement from Miami-Dade College in 2007, Wilson began to transition to another stage in his career, involving a shift in focus from work in Honduras to work in Mexico. The work in Mexico began in 2013 and continued to date in 2018. During this period, also beginning in 2013, steps were taken to form a research group to support research in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America). This work began with the construction of a Special Mexico Issue (SMI) consisting of five components, including two seminal papers on the conservation status of the amphibian and reptile segments of the Mexican herpetofauna. In addition, the SMI also contained the first of a series of papers that came to be known as the Mexico Conservation Series (MCS). This series blossomed eventually to consist of 17 entries (see below). The research group formed during this time came to be known as the Mesoamerican Research Group (MRG), which celebrated its first decade of existence in 2022. From 2013 to the present, the MRG has produced a long series of papers either as part of the MCS or other studies involving the composition, distribution, and conservation status of segments of the Mesoamerican herpetofauna.

The entries in the MCS are as follows:

Wilson, Larry David, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Jerry D. Johnson. 2013. A conservation reassessment of the reptiles of Mexico based on the EVS measure. Contribution to Special Mexico Issue. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7: 1–47.

Wilson, Larry David, Jerry D. Johnson, and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2013. A conservation reassessment of the amphibians of Mexico based on the EVS measure. Contribution to Special Mexico Issue. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7: 97–127.

Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson, and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 5–62.

Johnson, Jerry D., Vicente Mata-Silva, Elí García-Padilla, and Larry David Wilson. 2015. The herpetofauna of Chiapas, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 271–329.

Terán-Juárez, Sergio A., Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The herpetofauna of Tamaulipas, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 42–113.

Woolrich-Piña, Guillermo A., Juan Pablo Ramírez-Silva, Jesús Loc-Barragán, Paulino Ponce Campos, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, Elí García-Padilla, and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The herpetofauna of Nayarit, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 375–448.

Nevárez de los Reyes, Manuel, David Lazcano Villarreal, Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The herpetofauna of Nuevo León, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 557–638.

Cruz-Sáenz, Daniel, Francisco Javier Muñoz-Nolasco, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, Elí García-Padilla, and Larry David Wilson. 2017. The herpetofauna of Jalisco, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4: 22–118.

González Sánchez, Victor Hugo, Jerry D. Johnson, Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata Silva, Dominic L. DeSantis, and Larry David Wilson. 2017.. The herpetofauna of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4: 263–380.

Woolrich-Piña, Guillermo A., Elí García-Padilla, Dominic L. DeSantis, Jerry D. Johnson, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Larry David Wilson. 2017. The herpetofauna of Puebla, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4: 790–884.

Cruz-Elizalde, Raciel, Aurelio Ramírez-Bautista, Uriel Hernández-Salinas, Christian Berriozabal-Islas, and Larry David Wilson. 2019. The herpetofauna of Querétaro. Mexico: species richness, diversity, and conservation status. Zootaxa 4,638: 273–290.

Lazcano, David, Manuel Nevárez-de los Reyes, Elí García-Padilla, Jerry D. Johnson, Vicente Mata-Silva, Dominic L. DeSantis, and Larry David Wilson. 2019. The herpetofauna of Coahuila, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13: 31–94.

Ramírez-Bautista, Aurelio, Uriel Hernández-Salinas, Raciel Cruz-Elizalde, Christian Berriozabal-Islas, Israel Moreno-Lara, Dominic L. DeSantis, Jerry D. Johnson, Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Larry David Wilson. 2020. The herpetofauna of Hidalgo, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 41: 63–118.

Torres-Hernández, Lizzeth, Aurelio Ramírez-Bautista, Raciel Cruz-Elizalde, Uriel Hernández-Salinas, Christian Berriozabel-Islas, Dominic L. DeSantis, Jerry D. Johnson, Arturo Rocha, Elí García-Padilla, Vicente Mata-Silva, Lydia Allison Fucsko, and Larry David Wilson. 2021. The herpetofauna of Veracruz, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15: 72–155.

Cruz-Elizalde, Raciel, Aurelio Ramírez-Bautista, Rúben Pineda-López, Vicente Mata-Silva, Dominic L. DeSantis, Elí García-Padilla, Jerry D. Johnson, Arturo Rocha, Lydia Allison Fucsko, and Larry David Wilson. 2022. The herpetofauna of Querétaro, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 16: 148–192.

Barragan-Vázquez, M. D. R., Liliana Ríos Rodas, Lydia Allison Fucsko, Louis W. Porras, Vicente Mata-Silva, Arturo Rocha, Dominic L. DeSantis, Elí García-Padilla, Jerry D. Johnson, and Larry David Wilson. 2022. The herpetofauna of Tabasco, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 16: 1–61.

Leyte-Manrique, Adrián, Vicente Mata-Silva, Oscar Báez-Montes, Lydia Allison Fucsko, Dominic L. DeSantis, Elí García-Padilla, Arturo Rocha, Jerry D. Johnson, Louis W. Porras, and Larry David Wilson. 2022. The herpetofauna of Guanajuato, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian& Reptile Conservation 16: 133–180.

During this same 10-year period of time, the members of the MRG several other important papers of broad scope, including the following:

Wilson, Larry David, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Jerry D. Johnson. 2013. A conservation reassessment of the reptiles of Mexico based on the EVS measure. Contribution to Special Mexico Issue. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7: 1–47.

Wilson, Larry David, Jerry D. Johnson, and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2013. A conservation reassessment of the amphibians of Mexico based on the EVS measure. Contribution to Special Mexico Issue. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7: 97–127. Johnson, Jerry D., Vicente Mata-Silva, and Larry David Wilson. 2015. A conservation reassessment of the Central American herpetofauna based on the EVS measure. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 9 [General Section]: 1–94 (e100). Johnson, Jerry D., Larry David Wilson, Vicente Mata-Silva, Elí García-Padilla, and Dominic L. DeSantis. 2017. The endemic herpetofauna of Mexico: organisms of global significance in severe peril. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4: 543–620. Wilson, Larry David, Jerry D. Johnson, Louis W. Porras, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Elí García-Padilla. 2017. A system for categorizing the distribution of the Mesoamerican herpetofauna. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4: 901–913. Mata-Silva, Vicente, Dominic L. DeSantis, Elí García-Padilla, Jerry D. Johnson, and Larry David Wilson. 2019. The endemic herpetofauna of Central America: a casualty of anthropocentrism. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13: 1–64. García-Padilla, Elí, Dominic L. DeSantis, Arturo Rocha, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, and Larry David Wilson. 2020. Conserving the Mesoamerican herpetofauna: the most critical case of the priority level one endemic species. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(2) [General Section]: 73–131 (e240). García-Padilla, Eli, Dominic L. DeSantis, Arturo Rocha, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, Lydia Allison Fucsko, David Lazcano, and Larry David Wilson. 2021. Mesoamerican salamanders (Amphibia: Caudata) as a conservation focal group. Biología y Sociedad 7: 43–87. Mata-Silva, Vicente, Elí García-Padilla, Arturo Rocha, Dominic L. DeSantis, Jerry D. Johnson, Aurelio Ramírez-Batista, and Larry David Wilson. 2021. A reexamination of the herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition update, physiographic distribution, and conservation commentary. Zootaxa 4,996: 201–252. García-Padilla, Elí, Vicente Mata-Silva, Dominic L. DeSantis, Arturo Rocha, Lydia Allison Fucsko, Jerry D. Johnson, David Lazcano, and Larry David Wilson. 2022. Biological and cultural diversity in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico: strategies for conservation among indigenous communities. Biología y Sociedad 5: 48–78. García-Padilla, Elí, Vicente Mata-Silva, Iván Villalobos-Juárez, Eduardo Alexis López-Esquivel, Mario C. Lavariega, Arturo Rocha, Dominic L. DeSantis, Ana Iris Melgar Martínez, Jerry D. Johnson, Lydia Allison Fucsko, David Lazcano, and Larry David Wilson. 2022. The amphibians and reptiles of the Los Chimalapas region, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, distributional categorization, conservation status, and biodiversity significance. Biología y Sociedad. 37–76.

The work of the MRG continues apace, with several notable studies in progress.

Awards and honours __________________________________________________________________

In 2005 Wilson was selected as one of the recipients of the Kendall Campus Distinguished Scholar Awards. This award was given in recognition of Wilson’s contributions to the science of herpetology.

Works __________________________________________________________________

Wilson, Larry David, and John R. Meyer (1982), The snakes of Honduras. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology (6): 1–159.

Wilson, Larry David, and Louis Porras (1983), The ecological impact of man on the herpetofauna of south Florida. Special Publications of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas, (9): i-vi, 1-89.

Wilson, Larry David, and John R. Meyer (1985), The snakes of Honduras (second edition). Milwaukee Public Museum: i-x, 1–150.

McCranie, James R., and Larry David Wilson (2002), The amphibians of Honduras. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Contributions to Herpetology 19: i-1x, 1–625.

McCranie, James R., Larry David Wilson, and Gunther Köhler (2005), Amphibians & Reptiles of the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos, Honduras. Bibliomania, Inc. i–xiv, 1–210.

McCranie, James R., Josiah H. Townsend, and Larry David Wilson (2006), The amphibians and reptiles of the Mosquitia, Honduras. Krieger Publications, Malabar, Florida. i–x, 1–302.

Wilson, Larry David, Josiah H. Townsend, and Jerry D. Johnson (2010), Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles. Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah. i–xviii, 1–812.

Larry Wilson

Larry Wilson, East Everglades, Florida

Born	Larry David Wilson April 10, 1940 Taylorville, Illinois, USA

Nationality	American

Alma mater	University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

Awards	See Awards and honours

Fields	Herpetology, Systematics, Conservation biology

Institutions	University of Southwestern Louisiana, Miami-Dade College