Douglas Athon "Dag" Rossman (July 4, 1936 – July 23, 2015) was a

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

specializing in

garter snakes Garter snake is the common name for small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. They are native to North and Central America, ranging from central Canada in the north to Costa Rica in the south. ...

. He studied at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, where he was awarded a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1961.Photo
from the University of Florida. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. He was a professor of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. He co-authored ''The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana'' (), and also ''The Garter Snakes: Evolution and Ecology'' (). His wife, Nita Jane RossmanRossman DA (1958).
A New Race of ''Desmognathus fuscus'' from the South-Central United States
. ''Herpetologica'' 14 (3): 158-160. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. (born 1936), also has an interest in herpetology and even had a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

named after her: '' Thamnophis saurita nitae'', a subspecies of the eastern ribbon snake. She had collected the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

for this subspecies on a field trip with her husband for his dissertation research, and he named it in her honor.Beltz, Ellin (2006).
Biographies of People Honored in the Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America
'. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. Rossman also wrote ''The Nine Worlds: A Dictionary of Norse Mythology'' (1983), ''Where Legends Live: A Pictorial Guide to Cherokee Mythic Places'' (1988), and several other works related to

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. Douglas Rossman is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Mexican garter snake, '' Thamnophis rossmani''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Rossman", p. 227).

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