Howard Kay Gloyd (February 12, 1902 – August 7, 1978) was an American herpetologist who is credited with describing several new species and subspecies of reptiles, such as the Florida cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti.
He is honored by having named after him the following taxa: a genus of Asian pit vipers, Gloydius; three species of nonvenomous snakes, Pantherophis gloydi (eastern fox snake), Agkistrodon howardgloydi, Heterodon nasicus gloydi (dusty hognose snake); and a subspecies of Central American pit viper, Crotalus intermedius gloydi.
In 1939, he became the vice president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and in 1940 he published The Rattlesnakes, genera Sistrurus and Crotalus.
He organized numerous expeditions to Arizona to collect specimens for the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
The Kansas Herpetological Society grants an annual scholarship named for Howard K. Gloyd and Edward Harrison Taylor.