The Herper (reptile and amphibian enthusiast) of the Week is Frank Nelson Blanchard. He lived from 1888-1937. A subspecies of Smooth Green Snake and the Northern Cricket Frog are both named after him. Blanchard earned his doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1919 with his thesis on Lampropeltis – the Kingsnake genus. He eventually became a professor at the university. Blanchard contributed deeply to the knowledge of snakes at the time through his papers such as his very popular paper A Key to the Snakes of the United States, Canada, and lower California. Blanchard was elected vice president of American Society of Herpetologists and Ichthyologists in 1936.
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