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Although Harvey Lillywhite recently retired from his position in the Department of Biology, he continues to earn awards and honors for work as an emeritus professor. In July, Lillywhite was honored with the Henry S. Fitch Award for Excellence in Herpetology.

This award, given by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, recognizes long-term excellence in the study of reptile and amphibian biology, typically taking into account a nominee’s entire career. It is considered a high honor in the field and is very competitive, with only one winner named each year.

“This came as a total surprise to me,” Lillywhite said. “I had no idea who had organized the nomination, so my surprise was mixed with the emotion of elation.”

Over the course of his nearly 40-year career at UF, Lillywhite was a prolific researcher, publishing over 320 articles, papers, and book chapters. He was, and still is, well-respected in the herpetology community, with his work focusing on ecology and understanding the adaptations of structure and function in reptiles and amphibians. He also served as the director of the Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory, during which he ran studies on the local snake populations to learn more about both their symbiotic relationships with the native bird populations and with the water surrounding them.

Since becoming an emeritus professor in 2021, Lillywhite has begun to focus on his personal writings. In 2023, he published Discovering Snakes in Wild Places, a book that documents his travels around the world as well as the snakes he studied on those journeys. His more recent work, Islands and Snakes Volume II, was published in January 2024 and catalogs the various snake species that live on remote islands.

“I am honored to have the recognition from my peers, and I am appreciative of the support I have received from my department and from UF over my years here,” said Lillywhite.