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 student Braden DeWeerd was recently awarded funding through the Howard McCarley Student Research Award through the Southwestern Association of Naturalists! 
A new student-led note was recently published in Herpetological Review 56(3). MS student Kevin Green published a series of distributional records of the non-native Hemidactylus aff. malcolmsmithi from Mississippi and Louisiana, including the furthest north documented population in the USA, in northern Louisiana. This species is rapidly expanding its range across the southern USA, and will likely become the dominant Hemidactylus species at introduced localities. Congrats to Kevin on another publication!
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.
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!
Two new student-led notes were recently published in Herpetological Review 56(2). Both were natural history notes, documenting new diet items for two species. Undergraduate technician Caden Myers published an observation of an Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) scavenging a road-killed North American Racer (Coluber constrictor) in Colorado. This observation follows a separate, recently published observation of a T. ornata consuming a road-killed Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer) in eastern New Mexico. These observations suggest that T. ornata may scavenge road-killed snakes at a higher frequency than previously reported. 
An article was just published by the ENMU Office of Advancement and Public Relations featuring DHL M.S. student Sebastian Summo Elias. It provides a brief biography, introduces his thesis research at ENMU on Western Ribbonsnakes, and mentions some of his recent accomplishments. 
Three new student-led notes were recently published in Herpetological Review 56(1). One was a Geographic Distribution Note reporting seven new occurrence records of six species of Michigan amphibians and reptiles, and was written by M.S. student Jake Kuschel. The other two were notes written by Ben Genter, an undergraduate researcher in the lab. Ben’s notes were: 1) a batch of distributional records of non-native amphibians and reptiles in the Florida, and 2) a Natural History Note describing a predation where at Mexican Treefrog (Smilisca baudinii) had consumed a Mediterranean Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) in south Texas. Congratulations to both students on their publications!
Graduate student Zoe Hutcherson recently attending the New Mexico Research Symposium (NMRS) held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 15 November 2025. Zoe presented a poster titled, “Understanding the distribution of Rio Grande Cooters and examining spatial variation in their bacterial microbiota” at NMRS and was awarded the second place for her poster. This research is a part of Zoe’s thesis research at ENMU. This is the second time Zoe has won an award at NMRS! Way to go!
Drew R. Davis, Ph.D. 