{{Short description|American herpetologist (1930–1976)}} {{for|the Indian civil service figures|James Drummond Anderson (1852–1920)|James Drummond Anderson (1886–1968)}} '''James Donald Anderson, Jr.''' (August 16, 1930 – November 20, 1976) was an American herpetologist with the American Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at Rutgers University who did extensive fieldwork studying ''Ambystoma'' and other salamander species in Mexico. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 16, 1930, and grew up in the nearby town of Belleville. He attended the Rutgers University–Newark College of Arts and Sciences and earned a B.A. in zoology in 1954. From 1954 to 1960 he was a graduate student at UC Berkeley, working under Robert C. Stebbins. Anderson returned to Rutgers University–Newark as a faculty member in 1960, and died from injuries sustained in a car accident on November 20, 1976.<ref name=CopeiaObit>{{cite journal|title=James Donald Anderson, Jr.|first1=Daniel C.|last1= Wilhoft|first2= Keith A. |last2=Hawthorne|journal=Copeia|volume=1977|number=2|year=1977| page= 412|jstor=1443936}}</ref> Anderson's salamander (''Ambystoma andersoni'' ) is named after him.<ref name="BeolensWatkins2013">{{cite book|author1=Beolens, Bo|author2=Watkins, Michael|author3=Grayson, Michael|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJY3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|date=22 April 2013|place=Exeter, England|publisher=Pelagic Publishing|isbn=978-1-907807-44-2|page=7}}</ref>

== Early life == He was born on 16 August 1930 in Newark, New Jersey, just west of New York City, where he lived his entire life outside of his graduate studies in California. He spent his childhood in Belleville, a northern suburb of Newark. After graduating from high school, Anderson worked as a docent at the Newark Museum, an institution that spawned the careers of several professional herpetologists.

== Education and Dissertation == He attended the Newark campus of Rutgers University (A.B. 1954) before attending the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D. 1960). He was a graduate student of Robert C. Stebbins and conducted a comparative study of the coastal and montane populations of the Long-toed Salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) for his dissertation. In addition to his dissertation, Anderson worked as an Acting Curator in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and held other posts as an Instructor and research assistant. While at Berkeley, he also conducted studies on the thermal ecology of desert lizards and studies on the zoogeography of Sierra del Nido, Chihuahua, Mexico.

He published 150 peer-reviewed papers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22JD+Anderson%22+herpetology&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0,33|title="JD Anderson" herpetology |website=Google Scholar |access-date=16 November 2018}}</ref> His two most cited papers are: *"A Comparison of the Food Habits of ''Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum'', ''Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum'', and ''Ambystoma tigrinum californiense''". ''Herpetologica'' '''24''' (4) (Dec., 1968): 273–284.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Anderson|first= James D.|year=1968|title= A comparison of the food habits of ''Ambystoma macrodactylum sigillatum'', ''Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum'', and ''Ambystoma tigrinum californiense''|journal=Herpetologica|volume=24|number=4|pages= 273–284|jstor=3891365}}</ref> (cited 55 times according to Google Scholar); *"The Life History of the Mexican Salamander ''Ambystoma ordinarium'' Taylor". (with Richard D. Worthington). ''Herpetologica'' '''27''' (2) (Jun., 1971): 165–176.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=James D.|last1=Anderson|first2=Richard D. |last2=Worthington|title=The Life History of the Mexican Salamander ''Ambystoma ordinarium'' Taylor|journal=Herpetologica|volume= 27|number= 2|year=1971|pages= 165–176 |jstor=3891075}}</ref> (cited 43 times according to Google Scholar).

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, James D.}} Category:American herpetologists Category:1930 births Category:1976 deaths Category:Rutgers University–Newark faculty Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Category:Rutgers University–Newark alumni Category:Scientists from Newark, New Jersey Category:20th-century American zoologists Category:Road incident deaths in New Jersey

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