Ruthven, Alexander Grant

Alexander Grant Ruthven received a PhD in zoology from the University of Michigan in 1906. He worked as a professor, director of the University Museum, and Dean. He became the President in 1929. The work of Ruthven on the familiar garter snakes, published in 1908, may be regarded as founding an essentially new school of herpetology in the United States. Ruthven described and named 16 new species of reptiles. Ruthven is commemorated in the scientific names of seven reptiles: Geophis ruthveni, Holbrookia maculata ruthveni, Lampropeltis ruthveni, Lepidoblepharis ruthveni, Macropholidus ruthveni, Masticophis schotti ruthveni, and Pituophis ruthveni