James D. Anderson

{{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.{{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}} Anderson's salamander (Ambystoma andersoni ) is named after him.{{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}}

He published 150 peer-reviewed papers.{{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}} 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.{{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}} (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.{{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}} (cited 43 times according to Google Scholar).