Meet a snake and spider and then stick around to hear Dr. Steve Reichling speak about his work. Steve Reichling is Director of Conservation & Research at the Memphis Zoo. He is heavily involved in the captive management of reptiles and amphibians and their conservation in the wild, and has carried out field studies in Saint Lucia, Dominica, Sint Eustatius, Belize, and Guatemala. He leads the zoo component of the recovery program for the critically endangered dusky gopher frog. He has been studying the extremely rare Louisiana pinesnake since 1984, publishing research that elevated it from subspecies to species, and leading the zoo-based recovery effort. His herpetological interests center on species endemic to the longleaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern United States, resulting in his book “Reptiles and Amphibians of the Southern Pine Woods”. In addition to herpetology, he is intensely interested in tarantulas, has produced a book on the subject, “Tarantulas of Belize”, and has discovered and described four new species and one new genus from Central America. A genus of primitive spiders, Reichlingia, is named in his honor.

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