Stanley F. Fox, Regents Professor & Curator of Herpetology. Behavioral Ecology; Evolutionary Ecology; Herpetology.   Ph.D., 1973, Yale University Phone: 405-744-9682 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Lab website

Specific Interests

In general, I advance and utilize a field experimental approach to behavioral and evolutionary ecology, employing mostly lizards as model subjects. I am particularly interested in the development of lizard social organization at both the ontogenetic and evolutionary levels, studying lizards in the United States, Mexico, and Chile. I am also interested in the behavioral ecology associated with tail autotomy in lizards, exploring the use of the tail in lizards as a status signalling badge. I am currently conducting  field and laboratory studies of Crotaphytus collaris, especially in regards to the intrasexual and intersexual components of sexual selection, and care of neonates in a high-elevation lizard species of the Andes in Chile. I have conducted research on herp community ecology as well, especially turtle communities; Finally, I am involved in research related to worldwide amphibian declines.

Selected Publications

• Fox, S.F., J.K. McCoy, and T.A. Baird (eds.). 2003. Lizard social behavior. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
• Sasaki, K., S. F. Fox, and D. Duvall. 2008. Rapid evolution in the wild: changes in body size, life-history traits, and behavior in hunted Japanese mamushi snake (Gloydius blomhoffii) populations. Conservation Biology 23:93-102.
• Husak, J. F., S. F. Fox, and R. A. Van den Bussche. 2008. Faster male lizards are better defenders not sneakers. Animal Behaviour. 75:1725-1730.
• Karsten, K. B., L. N. Andriamandimbiarisoa, S. F. Fox and C. J. Raxworthy. 2008. A unique life history among tetrapods: an annual chameleon living mostly as an egg. PNAS 105:8980-8984.
• Fox, S. F. 2009. Life history and behavior. Chapter in Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide (L. Jones and R. Lovich, editors). Rio Nuevo Press, Tucson, AZ.
• Karsten, K. B., L. N. Andriamandimbiarisoa, S. F. Fox, and C. J. Raxworthy. 2009. Sexual selection on body size and secondary sexual characters in two closely related, sympatric chameleons in Madagascar. Behavioral Ecology 20:1079-1088.
• Echelle, A. A., J. C. Hackler, J. B. Lack, S. R. Ballard, J. Roman, S. F. Fox, D. M. Leslie, Jr., & R. A. Van Den Bussche. 2010. Conservation genetics of the alligator snapping turtle: cytonuclear evidence of range-wide bottlenecking and unusually pronounced geographic structure. Conservation Genetics 11:1375-1387.
• Anderson, M. L., C. N. Cavalieri, S. F. Fox, and F. Rodríguez-Romero. 2012. The differential effect of tail autotomy on sprint performance between the sexes in the lizard Uta stansburiana. Journal of Herpetology, in press.