Senior Curator of Zoology and Botany

State Museum of Pennsylvania

 

Dr. Walter E. Meshaka, Jr. is a herpetologist and natural historian. His primary focus is on North American and exotic amphibians and reptiles. He was the supervisory curator for the four National Parks in southern Florida from 1995 to 2000. In 2000 he became the Senior Curator of Zoology and Botany at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His research has been covered by Lawrence Journal-World, among other news outlets. Dr. Meshaka earned a B.S. in biology from the University of South Florida, a M.S. in Biology from Arkansas State University, and his Ph.D. from the Florida International University.

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Dr. Meshaka is an accomplished author and Whitfield Gibbons noted, "Meshaka’s thoughtful afterword on exotic species introductions to Florida offers some achievable solutions for controlling the influx of more herpetofauna.".  He published four pocket field guides with Joseph T. Collins largely "intended to raise public awareness". Their "Pocket Guide to Lizards and Turtles" is said to be "useful for all naturalists to carry with them in eastern Canada. It is especially ideal for junior naturalists as a “starter” guide."

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Meshaka has collaborated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Powdermill Nature Reserve on field herpetology research. A long-term mark-recapture study of the ten species of snakes occurring at the preserve has ensued since 2002. He has resurrected and continued a long-term study on Eastern Box Turtles and Wood Turtles that was established by Graham Netting in 1958 and continued until Netting's death in 1996.