Donald G. Broadley

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Donald George "Don" Broadley (born May 29, 1932 in Stamford , Lincolnshire ; † March 10, 2016 ) was a British herpetologist from Zimbabwe .

Broadley was a cartographic draftsman for the Ordnance Service in England and even then was collecting reptiles in the New Forest and Dorset . In 1954 he went to Africa to work in the urban planning department of Harare (then Salisbury) as a draftsman and later worked as a geotechnician at the Road Department. As early as 1956 he was Honorary Keeper for Herpetology at the later Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe . In 1959 he was director of a snake park in Salisbury. He also suffered two serious snakebites from a puff adder and a boomslang that cost him a finger. In 1961 he gave up the management of the snake park to become assistant keeper at the museum, which was then in Mutare (from 1981 in Bulawayo ). In 1967 he received his doctorate. Under his leadership, the herpetological collection increased from 1,000 to over 40,000 copies. Today (2014) it is over 50,000 specimens with 93 holotypes , making it the largest collection of African reptiles after the Transvaal Museum. He officially retired in 1995, but continued to work as the Museum's Research Associate until 2010 when he became a Curator Emeritus.

In addition to Zimbabwe, he collected in Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique, among others, and first described about 86 species of reptiles that are still valid today as well as about 18 subspecies and 4 new genera: Montatheris BROADLEY 1996, Proatheris BROADLEY 1996, Afrotyphlops BROADLEY & WALLACH 2009 , and Xyelodontophis BROADLEY & WALLACH 2002. This makes him the second most productive alpha taxonomist among herpetologists after Aaron M. Bauer. According to the website of the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, Broadley described 103 species and subspecies, with that number presumably including amphibians. He has published over 280 scientific publications.

Broadley's wife, Sheila, is also a herpetologist.

Fonts

  • with Roger Blaylock: The Snakes of Zimbabwe and Botswana, Frankfurt: Chimaira 2013
  • with Craig T. Doria, Jürgen Wigge: Snakes of Zambia, An Atlas and Field Guide, Chimaira 2003

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ World's number three snake man dies
  2. ↑ a b Uetz, P. (2010) The original descriptions of reptiles , Zootaxa, No. 2335, 59-68
  3. ^ List of reptile species described by Donald G. Broadley in the Reptile Database
personal data
SURNAME Broadley, Donald G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Broadley, Donald George (full name); Broadley, Don (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British herpetologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Stamford , Lincolnshire
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 2016