Congratulations to Kevin Green and Sebastian Summo (pictured here) for taking home top prizes in their presentations at the ENMU Student Research and Creativity Conference. Kevin won 1st place among the Biology Undergraduate Posters with his poster titled, “Prevalence of two amphibian pathogens in non-native caecilians established in Miami, Florida,” and his work on this was funded through the NM AMP. Sebastian won 1st place among Biology/Chemistry Oral Presentations his talk titled, “Distribution, habitat use, and conservation ecology of the Western Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis proximus) in New Mexico.” Four other students presented posters related to their current or past work also at SRCC, including Jake Kuschel, Zoe Hutcherson, Reagan Moritomo, and Andy Gilliam.
Congratulations to Kevin and Sebastian for their awards and for successful presentations by all the students!
DHL undergraduate student researcher Kevin Green was recently awarded funding from the Texas Academy of Science Annual Student Research Award 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, diet, and parasite load of these species.
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. 
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.
A new graduate student has joined the Davis Herpetology Lab for Spring 2025 working on a project related to environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys for imperiled snake species across southern New Mexico. 
Drew R. Davis, Ph.D. 