Harold Elmer Anthony

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harold Elmer Anthony (born April 5, 1890 in Beaverton , Oregon , † March 29, 1970 in Paradise , California ) was an American zoologist and paleontologist . He was one of the leading mammalogues of his time. His main research interests were the mammals of the western hemisphere .

Live and act

Study and military time

Harold Elmer Anthony was the son of ornithologist Alfred Webster Anthony (1865-1939) and his wife Anabel Klink Anthony. After finishing school in Portland , Oregon, he studied at Pacific University in Forest Grove , Oregon between 1910 and 1911 . In 1915 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Columbia University . During the First World War , he joined the army in Plattsburgh , New York . At the end of 1917 he received the rank of first lieutenant in the field artillery. In 1918 he was promoted to captain . After serving in France in the summer of 1918, he ended his army career in March 1919. In 1920 Anthony graduated with a Master of Arts and in 1934 he received his PhD in Science from Pacific University. In 1922 he married Margaret Feldt, with whom he had two children.

Research work

In the spring of 1910, Anthony went on an excursion to Baja California in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History to study the albatrosses . In May 1910 he worked as a collector for the Bureau of Biological Survey in North Dakota and Montana . In September 1911 he became an employee at the American Museum of Natural History. From 1919 to 1926 he was assistant curator and from 1926 to 1958 he was curator of the mammals department. From 1942 to 1958 he was head of this department and from 1952 to 1958 deputy director of the American Museum of Natural History. From 1953 to 1956 he was an honorary curator in the Department of Nature Conservation and General Ecology . From 1942 to 1947, from 1951 to 1952 and from 1955 to 1956 he was the chairman of the board of the scientific staff. From 1958 to 1966 he was a curator at the Frick Laboratory.

From 1910 to 1936, Anthony led many expeditions to South and Central America and the Caribbean. During this research he compiled a great deal of fossil and sub-fossil material that greatly expanded the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. From November 1938 to April 1939 he participated in the Vernay - Cutting expedition to northern Burma.

Between 1913 and 1927, Anthony authored over 50 scientific papers on mammalogy and paleontology, mainly published by the American Museum of Natural History. In 1928 Anthony's standard work, Field book of North American mammals, appeared; descriptions of every mammal known north of the Rio Grande, together with brief accounts of habits, geographical ranges, etc. , which has been one of the leading identification books for the North American mammal fauna for over 25 years. From 1935 to 1937 he was President of the American Society of Mammalogists .

Dedication names

The animal taxa named after Harold Elmer Anthony include Epipedobates anthonyi , Hypsugo anthonyi , Scolopax anthonyi , Caprimulgus anthonyi , Puma concolor anthonyi (invalid taxon), Stenoderma rufum anthonyi and Artibeus anthonyi .

Works (selection)

  • Mammals of Puerto Rico: Living and extinct , 1925–1926 (2 volumes)
  • Field book of North American mammals; descriptions of every mammal known north of the Rio Grande, together with brief accounts of habits, geographical ranges, etc. , 1928
  • The capture and preservation of small mammals for study (Guide leaflet -; no. 61). New York, American Museum of Natural History, 1931.
  • Animals of the world: Mammals of America, Mammals of other lands. , 1941

literature

  • Anthony Todman: Harold Elmer Anthony In: Dr Lorne F. Hammond: Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. New York, Greenwood, 1997. ISBN 978-0313230479 , pp. 29-31
  • Elmer C. Birney & Jerry R. Choate: Seventy-Five Years of Mammlogy (1919–1994), The American Society of Mammalogists, Special Publication No. 11, 1994: pp. 35-37