James A. Peters


James Arthur Peters was an American herpetologist and zoogeographer.
He was born in Durant, Iowa, and raised in Greenup, Illinois. He studied at the University of Michigan, where he obtained his Ph.D. in biology in 1952. He studied with the herpetologist Norman Edouard Hartweg.
His main subject of research was herpetology and zoogeography of Latin America, especially Ecuador. During his thirty years of research in herpetology he described 17 new species or subspecies, most of them amphibians, such as several neotropical toads of the genus Atelopus.
Peters died of liver cancer in 1972.

Career and positions

He held teaching positions at
He held positions in the Department of Reptiles and Amphibians at the Smithsonian Institution
  • Associate Curator
  • Curator
Peters was a member of professional societies such as: American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, where he served as secretary, 1960–1966, vice-president, 1967 and president, 1970. He was elected to the Washington Biologists' Field Club. He inaugurated the Smithsonian Herpetological Information Services which distributed materials to herpetological institutions and individuals. He founded the newsletter MUDPIE providing information on computer programs, references, grants, meetings, etc.

Honors

Several neotropical amphibians and reptiles are named after him, including Ameerega petersi, Anadia petersi, Andinosaura petrorum, Colostethus jacobuspetersi, Dipsas jamespetersi, Gonatodes petersi, Helicops petersi, Micrurus petersi, Pristimantis petersi, and Tantilla petersi. James Peters is not to be confused with Wilhelm Peters, a German herpetologist, after whom also several species were named. In fact, Andinosaura petrorum was named after both James Peters and Wilhelm Peters, with petrorum meaning "of the Peters", honoring both contributions to neotropical herpetology.

Selected works