Douglas Athon "Dag" Rossman (July 4, 1936 – July 23, 2015) was a U.S. herpetologist specializing in garter snakes. He studied at the University of Florida, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1961.Photo from the University of Florida. URL last accessed 2010-01-21.
He was a professor of zoology at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He co-authored The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana (), and also The Garter Snakes: Evolution and Ecology ().
His wife, Nita Jane RossmanRossman DA (1958). "A New Race of Desmognathus fuscus from the South-Central United States". Herpetologica 14 (3): 158-160. URL last accessed 2010-01-21. (born 1936), also has an interest in herpetology and even had a subspecies named after her: Thamnophis saurita nitae, a subspecies of the eastern ribbon snake. She had collected the holotype for this subspecies on a field trip with her husband for his dissertation research, and he named it in her honor.Beltz, Ellin (2006). Biographies of People Honored in the Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America. URL last accessed 2010-01-21.
Rossman also wrote The Nine Worlds: A Dictionary of Norse Mythology (1983), Where Legends Live: A Pictorial Guide to Cherokee Mythic Places (1988), and several other works related to Norse mythology.
Douglas Rossman is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Mexican garter snake, Thamnophis rossmani.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Rossman", p. 227).
References
Further reading Wilson LD, Boundy J (2015). "Douglas Athon Rossman 1936–2015: The Gentle Renaissance Man of Herpetology". Herpetological Review 46 (4): 717-719.