Wade Fox

{{Short description|American zoologist and herpetologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Wade Fox Jr.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = June 2, 1920 | birth_place = Hilton, Virginia, US | death_date = {{no wrap|{{death date |1964|09|20}} (aged 43-44)}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | fields = Herpetology | workplaces = {{unbulleted list|University of Southern California |Louisiana State University}} | patrons = | education = {{unbulleted list|UC Berkeley|University of North Carolina}} | thesis1_title = Biology of the garter snakes of the San Francisco Bay Region | thesis1_url = | thesis1_year = 1950 | thesis2_title = Variation in the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) along the lower Columbia River | thesis2_url = | thesis2_year = 1946 | doctoral_advisor = Robert C. Stebbins | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }} '''Rufus Wade Fox Jr.''' (June 2, 1920 – September 20, 1964), was an American zoologist and herpetologist from the University of California, Berkeley. He specialized in the anatomy of snakes and the systematics of the western garter snakes.

==Biography== Wade Fox was born on June 2, 1920, in Hilton, Virginia.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1943 and then earned a Master's (1946) and doctoral degree at the University of California, Berkeley, working as Curatorial Assistant of in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology from 1943 to 1949, and earning a PhD under Robert C. Stebbins in 1950.<ref name=Dessauer1965/> His dissertation topic was "Biology of the Garter Snakes of the San Francisco Bay Region".<ref name=rodriguez-robles/> Later he became president of Herpetologists' League and an editor of the journal ''Copeia''.<ref name=beolens/>

He named several garter snake (''Thamnophis'') subspecies, including ''Thamnophis elegans terrestris'', ''Thamnophis elegans aquaticus'' (now a synonym of ''T. atratus atratus'') and ''Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi''.<ref name=rodriguez-robles/> He is commemorated in the name of the Fox's mountain meadow snake (''Adelophis foxi'' ).<ref name=beolens/>

Wade Fox died of a heart attack following heart surgery on September 20, 1964.<ref name=Dessauer1965/><ref name=beolens/>

==Partial bibliography== *{{cite journal|author=Fox W|year=1951|title=Relationships among the garter snakes of the ''Thamnophis elegans'' rassenkreis|journal=Univ. California Publ. Zool.|volume=50|pages=485–529}} *{{cite journal|author=Fox W|year=1951|title=The status of the gartersnake, ''Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia''|journal=Copeia|volume=1951|issue=4|pages=257–267|doi=10.2307/1438309|jstor=1438309}} *{{cite journal|author=Fox W|year=1954|title=Genetic and environmental variation in the timing of the reproductive cycles of male garter snakes|journal=J. Morphol.|volume=95|issue=3|pages=415–450|doi=10.1002/jmor.1050950303|s2cid=84375536}}

==References== <references> <ref name=rodriguez-robles>{{cite journal|title=Brief history of herpetology in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, with a list of type specimens of recent amphibians and reptiles|journal=University of California Publications in Zoology|volume=131|pages=1–119|year=2003|vauthors=Rodríguez-Robles JA, Good DA, Wake DB |issn=0068-6506|url=http://cro.ots.ac.cr/rdmcnfs/datasets/biblioteca/pdfs/nbina-7280.pdf#page=102}}</ref> <ref name=beolens>{{cite book|vauthors=Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M |year=2011|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.|isbn=978-1-4214-0135-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ovZoFyLhzkC&pg=PA93}} ("Fox, W.", p. 93).</ref>

<ref name=Dessauer1965>{{cite journal|author=Dessauer HC|year=1965|title=Wade Fox, Jr., 1920–1964|journal=Copeia|volume=1965|issue=1|page=123|jstor=1441262}}</ref> </references> {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Wade}} Category:American herpetologists Category:1920 births Category:1964 deaths Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of North Carolina alumni Category:Louisiana State University faculty Category:People from Scott County, Virginia Category:Biologists from California Category:Scientists from Virginia Category:20th-century American zoologists