Albert Schwartz (zoologist)

For other people with similar names, see Al Schwartz (disambiguation).

Albert Schwartz
Born	(1923-09-13)September 13, 1923 Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Died	October 18, 1992(1992-10-18) (aged 69) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Education	University of Cincinnati University of Michigan University of Miami
Scientific career
Fields	Herpetology

Albert Schwartz (September 13, 1923 – October 18, 1992) was an American zoologist who worked extensively with the herpetofauna of Florida and the West Indies, and later with butterflies.[1][2] One magazine article once dubbed him as one of the "Kings of West Indian Anole Taxonomy".[3]

Career

Schwartz obtained his PhD from the University of Michigan in mammalogy in 1952. Already at that time, he had a keen interest in amphibians and reptiles, as well as in warmer climates.[1] Schwartz spent most of his professional working life at Miami-Dade Community College;[1][2] he was also supported by a family trust, which he used to fund his own activities as well as field expeditions by others. He was a Research Associate of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History,[4] and also an associate of the Florida Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), and the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[5] Starting in 1954, he worked extensively in Cuba, and described numerous frogs[1] as well as three anole species from there.[3] After the revolution in Cuba, he shifted his attention to Hispaniola,[1] where he again described numerous frog species[1] and five anoles.[3] In the late 1970s, when Schwartz saw the number of new amphibians and reptiles he could describe from the West Indies diminishing, he shifted his attention to butterflies.[1]

Legacy

See also: Category:Taxa named by Albert Schwartz (zoologist)

Schwartz published 230 papers on West Indian biology. 80 of the amphibian and reptile species he had described were recognized as valid in 1993;[1] he is credited to have described 14% of the entire West Indian herpetofauna.[3] Schwartz is one of the top-10 most productive alpha-taxonomists in herpetology, having described 299 reptiles (species and subspecies) that were still valid in 2018.[6] A number of taxa are named in his honor, including the following:[2][5]

• Anolis schwartzi – may be a subspecies of Anolis wattsi
• Chilabothrus chrysogaster schwartzi
• Eleutherodactylus schwartzi – Schwartz's robber frog, Virgin Islands coqui
• Schwartzius – a subgenus of Eleutherodactylus
• Sphaerodactylus schwartzi – Guantanamo collared sphaero
• Tarentola albertschwartzi – a gecko
• Tropidophis schwartzi – a dwarf boa
• Typhlops schwartzi – Schwartz's worm snake
• Artibeus schwartzi – Schwartz's fruit-eating bat

Works

• Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp.
• Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1049-7.

References

1. Duellman, William E.; Thomas, Richard; Henderson, Robert W. (1993). "Albert Schwartz, 13 Sept. 1923–18 Oct. 1992". Copeia. 1993 (3): 927–932. JSTOR 1447281.
2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2013). The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Exeter, England: Pelagic Publishing. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-907807-44-2.
3. Glor, Rich (December 19, 2011). "The Kings of West Indian Anole Taxonomy IV: Albert Schwartz". Anole Annals. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
4. Various authors (1978). Carnegie Museum of Natural History: 1978 Annual Report. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 56 pp. ("Amphibians & Reptiles", p. 39).
5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Schwartz, p. 239)
6. Uetz, Peter; Stylianou, Alexandrea (2018). "The original descriptions of reptiles and their subspecies". Zootaxa. 4375 (2): 257–264. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4375.2.5. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 29689772.

External links

• Works by Albert Schwartz at the Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Works by Albert Schwartz at Open Library