Albert Schwartz (September 13, 1923 – October 18, 1992) was an American

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

who worked extensively with the herpetofauna of

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and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, and later with butterflies. One magazine article once dubbed him as one of the "Kings of West Indian

Anole Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles (singular anole ) and native to warmer parts of the Americas, ranging from southeastern United States to Paraguay. Instead of treating it as a family, some authorities prefer to treat ...

Taxonomy".

Career

Schwartz obtained his PhD from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growi ...

in 1952. Already at that time, he had a keen interest in amphibians and reptiles, as well as in warmer climates. Schwartz spent most of his professional working life at Miami-Dade Community College; 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 The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by List of people from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Pit ...

, and also an associate of the

Florida Museum of Natural History The Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) is Florida's official state-sponsored and chartered natural history museum. Its main facilities are located at 3215 Hull Road on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, Gaine ...

, the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

(

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), and the ''Museo Nacional de Historia Natural'', Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Starting in 1954, he worked extensively in Cuba, and described numerous frogs as well as three

anole Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles (singular anole ) and native to warmer parts of the Americas, ranging from southeastern United States to Paraguay. Instead of treating it as a family, some authorities prefer to treat ...

species from there. After the revolution in Cuba, he shifted his attention to

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, where he again described numerous frog species and five

s. 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.

Legacy

Schwartz published 230 papers on West Indian biology. 80 of the amphibian and reptile species he had described were recognized as valid in 1993; he is credited to have described 14% of the entire West Indian herpetofauna. 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. A number of

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

are named in his honor, including the following:Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Schwartz, p. 239) *'' Anolis schwartzi'' – may be a subspecies of ''Anolis wattsi'' *'' Chilabothrus chrysogaster schwartzi'' *'' Eleutherodactylus schwartzi'' – Schwartz's robber frog, Virgin Islands coqui *''Schwartzius'' – a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

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,

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(1975). ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

. 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. .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Albert 1923 births 1992 deaths American entomologists American herpetologists University of Cincinnati alumni University of Miami alumni University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American zoologists