ASU SoLS Faculty: Andrew T. Holycross

Conservation Biology, Herpetology

My research integrates natural history, ecological, behavioral, and genetic data and applies it to the conservation and management of threatened populations. However, my interests are broad and collaboration has allowed me to make contributions in parasitology, reproductive endocrinology/histology, nomenclature, and phylogeography. I strongly endorse long-term approaches to ecological research, and am entering a second decade of monitoring a population of endangered rattlesnakes in New Mexico. My research has made extensive use of natural history collections and I serve as Curator of the SoLS Herpetology Collections.

I am currently focused on the production of a "Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona" (Arizona Game and Fish Department) as well as an authoritative reference on the "Snakes of Arizona" (University of California Press), both with co-author Thomas Brennan.

I am also an instructor at the Red Mountain Campus of Mesa Community College, where I teach Introductory Biology for Majors.

Selected Publications

Holycross, A.T. and M.E. Douglas. In prep. Geographic isolation, genetic divergence, and reduced variability define conservation units in a threatened sky-island rattlesnake.

Brennan, T.C. and A.T. Holycross. 2005. A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Maricopa County. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix. 68 pp.

Babb, R.D., Bradley, G.L., Brennan, T.C. and A.T. Holycross. 2005. A preliminary assessment of the diet of Gyalopion quadrangulare (Serpentes: Colubridae). Southwestern Naturalist 50:390-392.

Douglas, M.E., M.R. Douglas, G.W. Schuett, L.W. Porras and A.T. Holycross. 2002. Phylogeography of the Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) complex, with emphasis on the Colorado Plateau. In Schuett, G.W., M. Höggren, M.E. Douglas and H.W. Greene (eds.), Biology of the Vipers, pp. 11-50. Eagle Mountain Publishing, Eagle Mountain, Utah. 596 pp.

Holycross, A.T., C.W. Painter, D.G. Barker and M.E. Douglas. 2002. Foraging ecology of the threatened New Mexico Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi obscurus). In Schuett, G.W., M. Höggren, M.E. Douglas and H.W. Greene (eds.), Biology of the Vipers, pp. 243-251. Eagle Mountain Publishing, Eagle Mountain, Utah. 596 pp.

Schuett, G.W., S.L. Carlisle, A.T. Holycross, J.K. O’Leile, D.L. Hardy, Sr., E.A. Van Kirk, and W.J. Murdoch. 2002. The breeding system of male Mojave Rattlesnakes (Crotalus scutulatus) in Arizona: Seasonal timing of mating, male aggression, plasma sex steroids, spermatogenesis, and sexual segment of the kidney. In Schuett, G.W., M. Höggren, M.E. Douglas and H.W. Greene (eds.), Biology of the Vipers, pp. 515-532. Eagle Mountain Publishing, Eagle Mountain, Utah. 596 pp.

Holycross, A.T., M.E. Douglas, J.R. Higbee and R.H. Bogden. 2002. Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci from a threatened rattlesnake (New Mexico Ridgenose Rattlesnake, Crotalus willardi obscurus). Molecular Ecology Notes 2:537-539.

Holycross, A.T. and S.P. Mackessy. 2002. Variation in the diet of Sistrurus catenatus (Massasauga), with emphasis on S. c. edwardsii (Desert Massasauga). Journal of Herpetology 36:454-464.

Holycross, A.T., C.W. Painter, D.B. Prival, D.E. Swann, M.J. Schroff, T. Edwards and C.R. Schwalbe. 2002. Diet of Crotalus lepidus klauberi (Banded Rock Rattlesnake). Journal of Herpetology 36:589-597.

Holycross, A.T. and S.R. Goldberg. 2001. Reproduction in northern populations of the ridgenose rattlesnake, Crotalus willardi (Serpentes: Viperidae). Copeia 2001:473-481.

Smith, L.J., A.T. Holycross, C.W. Painter and M.E. Douglas. 2001. Montane rattlesnakes and prescribed fire. Southwestern Naturalist 46:54-61.

Goldberg, S.R. and A.T. Holycross. 1999. Reproduction in the desert massasauga, Sistrurus catenatus edwardsii, in Arizona and Colorado. Southwestern Naturalist 44:531-535.