Stephen David Durrant | |
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| Born | (1902-10-11)October 11, 1902 |
| Died | November 11, 1975(1975-11-11) (aged 73) |
| Education | University of Utah |
| Known for | President of theAmerican Society of Mammalogists |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mammalogy |
| Institutions | University of Utah |
Stephen David Durrant (October 11, 1902 – November 11, 1975) was an Americanmammalogist fromSalt Lake City, Utah and past president of theAmerican Society of Mammalogists known for his work with pocket gophers of the genusThomomys and other rodents of theGreat Basin. The "foremost mammalogist in Utah,"[1] he was professor of zoology at theUniversity of Utah for over 40 years.
Born October 11, 1902, Durant served as amissionary forthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Switzerland after high school. After his return, he enrolled in theUniversity of Utah, earning an A.B. in French in 1929. He stayed at the University of Utah for graduate school, pursuing zoology and earning a M.S. underRalph V. Chamberlin in 1931. After pursuing doctoral research first at theUniversity of Minnesota, thenUniversity of California, Berkeley, and working several jobs while raising a family, he received his Ph.D. in 1950 from theUniversity of Kansas. Over the course of his career he described 37 newsubspecies or races of assorted small mammals, including gophers, mice, kangaroo rats, beavers, and picas. He died from lung cancer on November 11, 1975.[2]
Durrant's 1952 bookMammals of Utah: Taxonomy and Distribution presented taxonomic synopses of 247 species and subspecies of Utah mammals, as well as Durrant's explanations for the origins of such diversity: largely that the geographic and hydrological history of the region, especially the prehistoricLake Bonneville, promotesreproductive isolation and subsequentspeciation or sub-speciation.[3][4]
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