Members of the Davis Herpetology Lab recently attending the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Summer technicians Caden Myers and Madden Haag presented posters and undergraduate Ben Genter presented an oral presentation. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to share research, learn about the latest advances in herpetology, and connect with colleagues and collaborators from across the country.

Our road trip to and from Louisiana included a little herping, with stops to look for Nerodia harteri, N. paucimaculata, and Desmognathus catahoula. Of course, no trip to the Gulf Coast would be complete without stops for introduced Hemidactylus aff. malcolmsmithi!

JMIH will be in Panama City, Panama in 2027, and I’m looking forward to attending and staying to doing field research for a few days with colleagues.

DHL M.S. student Sebastian Summo Elias successfully defended his thesis today with high praise from his committee and other attendees! Sebastian presented on his thesis research titled, “Distribution, Habitat Use, and Conservation Ecology of the Western Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis proximus) in New Mexico,” the culmination of two summers of fieldwork studying this species across the Pecos and Canadian river drainages. His work has helped increase our understanding of this species in New Mexico (the western extent of this species) and provided a lot of great data for land managers and future, follow-up studies. Having passed his defense, he is one step closer to graduation and wrapping things up at ENMU. Additionally, he was also recently awarded a fellowship from the University of Florida to enroll in a Ph.D. program in Fall 2026 studying invasive Burmese Pythons in the Everglades, and we’re all excited to see what all he accomplishes with in that position. Sebastian has been an influential member of the lab, and will always hold the distinction of being the first M.S. graduate from the DHL!

Congratulations again Sebastian, we’re all proud of you!

DHL graduate students Sebastian Summo Elias, Braden DeWeerd, and Spencer Duffendack presented research posters at ENMU’s Student Research and Creativity Conference. Spencer (top) presented his thesis research on Western Ribbonsnakes (Thamnophis proximus), Braden (middle) presented on his proposed thesis research on SGCN Pecos River frogs, and Spencer (bottom) presented on his proposed thesis research on Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi) physiology. Additionally, Spencer (pictured here) took home the 1st place prize for the graduate student poster proposal category! Sebastian will soon defend his thesis and both Braden and Spencer will start their first summer field season of data collection.

Congratulations on the successful presentations by all the students and to Spencer on his award!

DHL M.S. student Kevin Green recently presented at the Texas Academy of Science Annual Meeting held on the UT Tyler Campus in Tyler, Texas. Kevin presented a research poster titled, “Understanding the diet and distribution of newly documented Hemidactylus aff. malcolmsmithi from south Texas, USA.” This was research he began as an ENMU undergraduate, which focused on examining the distribution and diet of a recently established non-native gecko in Texas. Through this work, Kevin was able to document this species in five new counties in south Texas and recorded 13 orders of arthropods in the diet of over 150 individuals. He previously was awarded funding as an undergraduate from the Texas Academy of Science to conduct this research and he was able to return to present his results at the conference. We also were able to visit with DHL collaborator and Curator of Herpetology at The University of Texas at Austin Biodiversity Collections, Travis LaDuc (pictured with Kevin), which is always a fun time!

Congratulations to Kevin for a great poster presentation!

The Davis Herpetology Lab attended the recent Southwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (SWPARC) meeting held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque from 7-10 August 2025. Not only did undergraduate student researcher Caden Myers present his first scientific poster, he also took home the top poster presentation award at the meeting with his poster titled “Diet of the non-native Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) in Texas, USA.” Caden has spent a portion of the summer sorting through two years of stomach samples and identifying diet items as part of this project, which we hope to expand into a third, and final, year.

Congratulations to Caden!

M.S. student Sebastian Summo Elias presented at the annual Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) of the NM/AZ The Wildlife Society Chapters in Albuquerque, NM last week. Sebastian presenting on some of his preliminary results from his field surveys for Western Ribbonsnakes (Thamnophis proximus). While in Albuquerque, the lab also stopped by to visit the ABQBioPark to discuss future collaborations with Stacey Sekscienski (Curator of Herpetology) and visited the Museum of Southwestern Biology at the University of New Mexico to examine specimens related to several on-going projects in the lab on Aspidoscelis, Nerodia, and Thamnophis.