fauna + lore
Animals, studied twice: as living lineages and as neighbors in human life.
I work on the evolutionary systematics of African plated lizards, and on the folklore of how people raise, show, and remember animals — one body of work about how animals and people make sense of each other.
Fauna Research Herpetology & the systematics of African plated lizards. 
Lore Faunalore The folklore & ethnography of human–animal interaction. - fauna·lore /ˈfɔː.nə.lɔːr/ n.
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- the animals themselves — reptiles studied as biological subjects: their evolutionary relationships, anatomy, and classification.
- the lore around animals — how people raise, show, keep, and mythologize animals: the folklore and ethnography of human–animal life.
Here, one word for both: how animals and people make sense of each other.
Featured work
All publications- Faunalore 2026 Cat 'Tales: Investigating the Legend of ‘Car-Sized’ Catfish at the Base of Dams Are there car-sized catfish lurking at the base of dams? Chasing a tall tale to see what it says about how we imagine the animals we can't see.
- Faunalore 2023 Love, Loss and Blue Ribbons: An Ethnographic Study of 4-H Animal Projects in Rural Community Fairs What a child learns raising an animal for the county fair — and the hard lesson of parting with it. My award-winning 4-H ethnography.
- Herpetology 2002 Phylogenetic Relationships of the Genus Gerrhosaurus (Reptilia: Gerrhosauridae) Based on Morphology The African plated lizards, sorted into a family tree from the shape of their skulls and scales — the study that anchors my herpetology.
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Herpetology 2002 Physiology of Original and Regenerated Lizard Tails How does a lizard's tail work after it's shed and grown back? A close look at the physiology of autotomy and regeneration.
About Stephen
I'm a herpetologist and a folklorist — Associate Professor of Biology at Delaware County Community College and a doctoral candidate in American Studies at Penn State Harrisburg. My work runs on two tracks at once: the systematics of African plated lizards, and the folklore of how people raise, show, and mythologize animals.
More about Stephen & the work →