JAY M.
SAVAGE
Professor Emeritus
My current research centers around three major themes: evaluation of
historical and ecologic determinants of the distributions of tropical
organisms (especially amphibians and reptiles); development of
methodologies for selecting among competing biogeographic hypotheses based
on evaluation of phylogenetic relationships within different groups having
concordant distribution patterns; analysis of the evolution of the most
speciose genus of vertebrates (the frogs of the genus
Eleutherodactylus with 500+ valid species) based on morphological,
karyological and biochemical data sets.
My most recent publication
is a comprehensive
handbook on the 385 species of Costa Rican amphibians and reptiles. The
book includes keys, diagnostic descriptions, ecological data and a
biogeographic analysis of the herpetofauna. The well-known nature
photographers Michael and Patricia Fogden provide the book with full color
illustrations.
Download a copy of my most recent Curriculum
Vitae
Education:
- A.B., Stanford University, 1950
- M.A.,
Stanford University, 1954
- Ph.D., Stanford University, 1955
Field:
Tropical biology; biogeography; herpetology and
evolution.
Recent Representative Publications:
Savage, J. M. 1983.
The enigma of the Central American herpetofauna: dispersals or vicariance?
Ann. of the Mo. Bot. Gard. 69: 464-547.
Savage, J. M. and J.
Villa. 1986. Introduction to the herpetofauna of Costa Rica (bilingual
edition). Soc. for the Study of Amph. and Rept. 1-207.
Guyer, C.
and Savage, J. M. 1987. Cladistic relationships among anoles (Sauria:
Iguanidae). Syst. Zool. 35: 509-531.
Savage, J. M. 1987.
Systematics and distribution of the Mexican and Central American rainfrogs
of the Eleutherodactylus gollmeri group (Amphibia:
Leptodactylidae). Field-Zool. Field Mus. of Nat. Hist. 33: 1-57.
Savage, J. M. and C. Guyer. 1989. Infrageneric classification and
species composition of the anole genera Anolis, Ctenonotus, Dactyloa,
Norops and Seminurus. (Sauria: Iguanidae). Amph-Rept. 10(2):
105-116.
Savage, J. M. and P. M. Lahanas. 1991. On the species of
the colubrid snake genus Ninia in Costa Rica and western Panama.
Herp. 47(1): 37-53.
Savage, J. M. and J. B. Slowinski. 1992. The
colouration of the venomous coral snakes (family Elapidae) and their
mimics (families Anliidae and Colubridae). Biol. J. Linnean Soc. London.
45(3): 235-254.
Send email to savy1@cox.net
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