Category: Students

FUNDING: undergraduate receives external grant funding

Undergraduate student researcher Kevin Green was recently awarded funding from the Texas Herpetological Society’s Grants-in-Herpetology program. His proposed research, titled “Understanding the distribution and negative effects of recently established invasive Hemidactylus from south Texas,” involves examining the diet and parasites of three non-native species of geckos established in the Rio Grande Valley. He will make trips to the region in spring and fall 2025 to collect samples and continue to better describe the distribution of these species.

Congratulations Kevin!

 

PERSONNEL: two new graduate students join the lab

Two new graduate students have joined the Davis Herpetology Lab for Spring 2025, both working on projects related to environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys for imperiled snake species across southern New Mexico.

Jake Kuschel graduated in December 2024 with a degree in Experimental Biology (Zoology) from Michigan State University. As an undergraduate, he worked in a research lab conducting behavioral and physiological experiments involving snakes (Python regius) and examining toxicity in newts (Taricha granulosa, T. torosa). Additionally, he will be applying his animal husbandry experience to assist with the Gennaro Natural History Museum at ENMU.

Zoe Hutcherson has previously been working in the Davis Herpetology Lab as an undergraduate student and graduated with a double major in both Biology and Forensic Science from ENMU in December 2024. Recently, Zoe has been working on summarizing the distribution of the non-native Mediterranean Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) across New Mexico.

Welcome to the lab!