David Sharp (entomologist)

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David Sharp 1922

David Sharp (born October 15, 1840 in Towcester , † August 27, 1922 in Lawnside, Brockenhurst ) was a British entomologist specializing in aquatic beetles .

Life

Sharp, the son of a leather manufacturer, studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital ( City of London ) and at the University of Edinburgh with a degree (Bachelor of Medicine) in 1866. He then worked as a doctor at the Crichton Institution (mental hospital) in Dumfries . In 1883 he gave up his work as a doctor completely and devoted himself to entomology. In 1885 he took over the insects department of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology as curator . In 1909 he retired and moved to his home in Brockenhurst near New Forrest , where he hiked and collected frequently. Besides England he also collected in Spain and Switzerland and edited collections, for example in connection with projects describing the fauna of Central America and Hawaii.

At first he dealt with butterflies, but then turned entirely to the beetles and became one of the leading specialists in Great Britain, especially on aquatic beetles. In 1880 he published a large monograph on the Dytiscidae . His main works also include a two-volume survey of insects for the Cambridge Natural History series.

In 1891 he became one of the editors of the Zoological Record . He was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London (and its President in 1887/88) and from 1890 a Fellow of the Royal Society . He was also a corresponding or honorary member of the most important entomological societies worldwide. In 1888 he became a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and he was a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London . In 1891 he received an honorary Master of Arts from Cambridge University.

His collection of beetles went to the Natural History Museum . The Cawthron Institute in Nelson acquired his library .

He was a friend and supporter of the philosopher Herbert Spencer .

Fonts

  • Monograph On Aquatic Carnivorous Coleoptera or Dytiscidae . In: Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society 2, 1880-1882, pp. 1-800.
  • A revision of the British species of Homalota . In: Transactions of the Entomological Society of London , 1869, pp. 91-272.
  • The Staphylinidae of Japan . In: Transactions of the Entomological Society of London , 1874, pp. 1-103.
  • Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon Valley . In: Transactions of the Entomological Society of London , 1876, pp. 27-424.
  • The Staphylinidae of Japan . In: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History , 1888, pp. 277-477.
  • Contributions of Staphylinidae, Pselaphidae and Synteliidae to Biologia Centrali-Americana, Insecta . Coleoptera, London, Taylor and Francis, from 1882
  • with Robert Cyril Layton Perkins and others: Fauna Hawaiiensis , 1896-1913 , online, Bishops Museum
  • with Frederick Arthur Godfrey Muir: The comparative anatomy of the male genital tube in Coleoptera . In: Transactions of the Entomological Society of London , 1912
  • Insects . In: Cambridge Natural History , 1895, 1899 (2 vol.)

He compiled two catalogs of British beetles, the first concerning Scottish beetles and published in the Scottish Naturalist from 1871 to 1879, and the second in 1893 (with clergyman William Weekes Fowler (1849–1923)).

literature

Web links

Commons : David Sharp  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files