Bryan Stuart

Research Curator, Herpetology
bryan.stuart@naturalsciences.org

11 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
919-707-8861

Education

  • PhD in Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2006
  • MS in Zoology, North Carolina State University, 1998
  • BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, 1995

Appointments

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 2006-2008
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, North Carolina State University

Research Interests

Bryan is a herpetologist who focuses on the biodiversity, systematics, and conservation of amphibians and reptiles. He is especially interested in patterns and processes of speciation. What is a species, and how do we recognize it? Using molecular data and tools from the fields of systematics and phylogeography, he delineates the boundaries within complexes of “cryptic species” (two or more species erroneously classified as single species). His research has shown that many geographically widespread “species” actually contain multiple, divergent, and sometimes sympatric evolutionary lineages that he hypothesizes are distinct species. These findings have implications for biogeography, community ecology, and conservation, and raise questions on how these sympatric lineages originated and are maintained.

As a Museum curatorial herpetologist, he devotes considerable time to preparing species descriptions and taxonomic revisions, usually initiated by findings in his field collections. He has maintained an active field program in Southeast Asia since 1998, with a focus on the countries of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Closer to home in North Carolina, he is investigating the taxonomic status of Wehrle’s Salamander (Plethodon wehrlei complex), hybridization between native and invasive slider turtles (Trachemys scripta), and genetic variation across the range of the River Frog (Lithobates heckscheri).

To learn more about Bryan's research, please visit www.bryanlstuart.com.

Selected Publications

  • Stuart, B. L., S. Seateun, N. Sivongxay, S. Souvannavong, and S. Phimmachak. 2025.
    A new species in the Pareas hamptoni group (Squamata, Pareidae) from southeastern Laos. Zoological Research: Diversity and Conservation 2(2): 99-113.
  • Weisenbeck, D. R., M. D. Martin, B. J. Hall, C. C. Jackson, and B. L. Stuart. 2025.
    Molecular and acoustical verification of hybrids of Cope’s Gray Treefrogs (Dryophytes chrysoscelis) and Pine Woods Treefrogs (Dryophytes femoralis) in Virginia and North Carolina. Southeastern Naturalist 24(1): 83-96.
  • Bernstein, J. M., R. W. Murphy, A. Lathrop, S. N. Nguyen, N. L. Orlov, and B. L. Stuart. 2024.
    Incorporating new datatypes to enhance species delimitation: A case study in rice paddy snakes (Homalopsidae: Hypsiscopus). Zootaxa 5501(1): 39-55.
  • Neang, T., V. Samorn, S. Hun, A. Henson, and B. L. Stuart. 2024.
    Review of the Slender Geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Hemiphyllodactylus) of the Cardamom Mountains of southwestern Cambodia, with descriptions of two new species and one country record. Zootaxa 5537(3): 377-394.
  • Stuart, B. L., D. A. Beamer, H. L. Farrington, J. C. Beane, D. L. Chek, L. T. Pusser, H. E. Som, D. L. Stephan, D. M. Sever, and A. L. Braswell. 2020.
    A new two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata complex) from the Sandhills of North Carolina. Herpetologica 76(4): 423-444.

Collections

Fields of Research

Laboratories