Wilfred T. Neill was a herpetologist

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

 and author. His name survives in the scientific name of the Central Florida Crowned Snake, tantilla relicta neilli.

Biography

Wilfred T. Neill, Jr. was born in Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

 on January 12, 1922. He graduated at the age of 19 with a B.S.

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 from the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

. He served in the Army Air Force

United States Army Air Forces

The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

 in the South Pacific

South West Pacific theatre of World War II

The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Research

After the war, Neill taught Biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 and Zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 in Augusta, Georgia, at Richmond Academy and Augusta Junior College. In 1949, he joined E. Ross Allen

Ross Allen (herpetologist)

Ensil Ross Allen was an American herpetologist and writer. Born in Pennsylvania, Ross relocated to Florida with his family when he was a teenager. As a young man, Allen made a hobby of capturing turtles, snakes and other reptiles near his home in central Florida.Allen began the Reptile Institute...

's Reptile Institute in Silver Springs, Florida

Silver Springs, Florida

Silver Springs is a U.S. populated place and spring in Marion County, Florida, just to the east of the city of Ocala. It is part of the Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area....

 as Research Director.

Neill was the first to describe the Everglades Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta rossalleni, a subspecies of Elaphe obsoleta, 1949), the Gulf Hammock Dwarf Siren (Pseudobranchus striatus lustricolus, a subspecies of Pseudobranchus striatus

Northern Dwarf Siren

The Northern Dwarf Siren, Pseudobranchus striatus is a perennibranch salamander lacking hind legs. Found in the south-eastern United States, it one of two currently recognized species of dwarf sirens. Three subspecies are currently recognized; P. s. striatus, the Broad-striped Dwarf Siren, P. s....

, 1951), the One-toed Amphiuma

Amphiuma pholeter

The One-toed Amphiuma is an aquatic, eel-like salamander native to the southeastern United States. It was unknown to science until 1950, when it was collected by herpetologist W. T. Neill...

 (Amphiuma pholeter, 1964), and the Southern Florida Rainbow Snake (Farancia erytrogramma seminola, a subspecies of Farancia erytrogramma

Farancia erytrogramma

Farancia erytrogramma is a large, nonvenomous, highly aquatic, colubrid snake found in coastal plains of the southeastern United States...

, 1964).

In 1966, herpetologist Sam Telford honored Neill by giving Neill's name to a newly-described subspecies of the Florida Crowned Snake (Tantilla relicta): Tantilla relicta neilli.

Neill published an influential work on crocodile

Crocodile

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...

 biology in 1971: The Last of the Ruling Reptiles: Alligators, Crocodiles, and their Kin.

Illness and death

Neill's health suffered a decline after a nearly fatal snakebite in 1978. It was the forty-first time he had been bitten by a venomous snake. He died of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 on February 19, 2001, in Lakeland, Florida

Lakeland, Florida

Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located approximately midway between Tampa and Orlando along Interstate 4. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city had a population of 94,406...

.