Kenneth L. Williams
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Kenneth L. Williams
| image =
| alt =
| birth_date = September 4, 1934
| birth_place = Saybrook, Illinois
| death_date = November 1, 2017
| death_place = Natchitoches, Louisiana
| nationality = American
| field = Herpetology
| work_institutions = Tulane University
Millikin University
Northwestern State University
| alma_mater = Louisiana State University
| known_for = Expert on milk snakes
| prizes =
| religion =
| birth_name = Kenneth Lee Williams
}}
Kenneth Lee Williams (September 4, 1934 – November 1, 2017){{cite web |title=Dr. Kenneth Williams of Natchitoches, Louisiana {{!}} 1934 - 2017 |url=https://www.blanchardstdenisfuneralhome.com/obituary/4429876 |publisher=Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home |access-date=6 October 2021}}Wilson, Larry David (2018). "Kenneth Lee Williams 1934–2017: My Fast Friend and Herpetological Colleague of More than Half a Century". Herpetological Review 49 (1): 178-180. was an American herpetologist and author of books on the subject of snake biology and classification. Williams retired from teaching in Northwestern State University's biology department and received emeritus status in 2001.[http://vintage.nsula.edu/newsarchive/emerit01.htm "New Release"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611083916/http://vintage.nsula.edu/newsarchive/emerit01.htm |date=2010-06-11 }} 1 May 2001, News Bureau, Northwestern State University Williams is considered an authority on the milk snake and the herpetology of the Honduran Cloud Forest.
Williams was born in Saybrook, Illinois, and served one tour of duty with the U.S. Army after high school. He earned his bachelor's degree and master's from the University of Illinois, and his doctorate from Louisiana State University in 1970.{{cite web
|url = http://www.animalbehavior.org/Resources/gpab_abs96_main.html
|title = Animal Behavior Society Graduate Program Bulletin, 1996
|work = The Animal Behavior Society
|accessdate = 2008-06-06
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080513173235/http://www.animalbehavior.org/Resources/gpab_abs96_main.html
|archive-date = 2008-05-13
|url-status = dead
}} After teaching at Tulane University in New Orleans and Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, Williams came to Northwestern State University in 1966 as an assistant professor. He became a full professor there in 1976.
Work
Over his 35 years at Northwestern State University Williams authored or co-authored 147 professional publications and received both NSU's Distinguished Faculty Award and their Alumni Association's Excellence in Teaching Award.
During his career, he specialized in studying the milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum.
In 1988, he published a book identifying 25 subspecies of milk snakes which is considered seminal and cited by most papers on milk snakes.{{citation
|title = The Coastal Plains Milksnake; A Case for Temporalis
|url = http://www.kingsnake.com/chesa/feature/temporalis.htm
|last1 = Dongarra
|first1 = Tony
|publisher = Chesapeake Herpetoculture
|place = Chesapeake, VA
|access-date = 2008-06-06
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080630034001/http://www.kingsnake.com/chesa/feature/temporalis.htm
|archive-date = 2008-06-30
|url-status = dead
| title = Analysis of sympatric populations of Lampropeltis triangulum syspila and Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides, in western Kentucky and adjacent Tennessee with relation to the taxonomic status of the scarlet kingsnake
| last1 = Armstrong
| first1 = Michael P.
| last2 = Frymire
| first2 = David
| last3 = Zimmerer
| first3 = Edmund J.
| journal = Journal of Herpetology
| volume = 35
| issue = 4
| date = December 2001
| pages = 688–93
| url = http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790e050a2140da939dde29bfd13582719af621eb734dba33044f9d443e023694dc49&fmt=P
| doi = 10.2307/1565915
| jstor = 1565915
| publisher = Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
}}
Together with Hobart Muir Smith, he discovered in Mexico a new snake species in the genus Geophis.{{citation
| journal = Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society
| volume = 5
| issue = 3
| year = 1966
| title = A New Snake (Geophis) from Mexico.
| last1 = Smith
| first1 = Hobart Muir
| authorlink1 = Hobart Muir Smith
| last2 = Williams
| first2 = Kenneth L.
| doi = 10.2307/1562611
| pages = 90
| publisher = Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
| jstor = 1562611
}} They also identified the southeastern canyon lizard subspecies of the canyon lizard in 1960. In 1966 he co-discovered the Texas scarlet snake. In 1968 he identified Aspidoscelis inornatus paululus, a subspecies of the little striped whiptail.{{citation
| title = A New Subspecies of the Teiid Lizard Cnemidophorus inornatus from México
| last = Williams
| first = Kenneth L.
| journal = Journal of Herpetology
| volume = 1
| issue = 1/4
| date = March 29, 1968
| pages = 21–24
| doi = 10.2307/1563258
| jstor = 1563258
}} He is also credited with the identification of the following milk snake subspecies in 1978: Andean Milksnake,{{Citation
| last = Bartlett
| first = Richard D.
| author2 = Ronald G. Markel
| title = Kingsnakes and Milksnakes
| publisher = Barron's Educational Series, Inc.
| year = 2005
| isbn = 0-7641-2853-1
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780764128530/page/82 82]
| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780764128530/page/82
}} Conant's milk snake, Honduran milk snake, Sinaloan milk snake, Smith's milk snake, and Stuart's milk snake.
Williams concluded from his research that Lampropeltis triangulum temporalis is intermediate between the scarlet kingsnake and the eastern milk snake, and therefore that these so-called Coastal Plains phase milk snakes are intergrades and thus not a proper scientific designation.{{citation
| journal =
| volume =
| issue =
| year = 1995
| title = Kingsnakes and Milksnakes: Everything about Purchase, Care, Nutrition
| last1 = Markel
| first1 = Ronald G.
| last2 = Bartlett
| first2 = Richard D.
| authorlink2 =
| page = [https://archive.org/details/kingsnakesmilksn00mark/page/61 61]
| isbn = 0-8120-4240-9
| publisher = Barron's Educational Series
| url = https://archive.org/details/kingsnakesmilksn00mark/page/61
| url = http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?collection=ENV&recid=1964640
| title = Systematics and natural history of the American milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum
| publisher = Milwaukee Public Museum.
| place = Milwaukee, WI (USA)
| year = 1988
| last = Williams
| first = Kenneth L.
}}{{dead link|date=June 2017}}
In 2000, the subspecies Sceloporus merriami williamsi, a taxonomic patronym, was named to honor Kenneth L. Williams for being a specialist in snake classification and the herpetology of Honduras and Mexico.{{citation
| url = https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/575/57509006.pdf
| title = An Annotated List of the Species-Group Names Applied to the Lizard Genus Sceloporus
| first1 = Edwin L.
| last1 = Bell
| first2 = Hobart M.
| last2 = Smith
| first3 = David
| last3 = Chiszar
| year = 2003
| journal = Acta Zoológica Mexicana
| volume = 90
| pages = 103–174
References
{{Reflist}}
Selected bibliography
- {{citation
| last1 =Williams
| first1 = Kenneth L.
| year = 1985
| title = Cemophora, C. coccinea
| journal = Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles
| volume = 374
| pages = 1–4
}}
- {{citation
| url = http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?collection=ENV&recid=1964640
| title = Systematics and natural history of the American milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum
| publisher = Milwaukee Public Museum
| place = Milwaukee, WI (USA)
| year = 1988
| last = Williams
| first = Kenneth L.
}}{{dead link|date=June 2017}}
- {{citation
| title = Snakes of the World
| last1 =Williams
| first1 = Kenneth L.
| date = December 1994
| publisher = Krieger Publishing Company
| isbn = 0-89464-302-9
}}
- {{citation
| title = Lampropeltis triangulum
| last1 =Williams
| first1 = Kenneth L.
| year = 1994
| journal = Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles
| volume = 594
| pages = 1–10
}}
- {{citation
| title = Scolecophis, Scolecophis atrocinctus
| last1 = Wilson
| first1 = Larry David
| authorlink1 = :fr:Larry David Wilson
| last2 = Williams
| first2 = Kenneth L.
| year = 2002
| journal = Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles
| volume = 758
| pages = 1–3
}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Kenneth Lee}}
Category:21st-century American zoologists
Category:American herpetologists
Category:American nature writers
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:American science teachers