Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (March 17, 1870–April 22, 1951) was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus Lasius after him as Donisthorpea, and for his many claims of discovering new species of beetles and ants. He is often considered to be the greatest figure in British myrmecology. September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Myrmecology is the branch of entomology dealing with ants. ... Coleopterology is the scientific study of beetles (insects of the order Coleoptera). ... In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic grouping. ... Species very many, see text Lasius Latr. ... Suborders Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera Beetles are one of the most diverse groups of insects. ... Subfamilies Dorylomorph subfamilies Apomyrminae Cerapachyinae Dorylinae Ecitoninae Formicomorph subfamilies: Aneuretinae Dolichoderinae Formicinae - e. ...

Biography

Educated at Mill Hill House, Leicester and Oakham Grammar School, Donisthorpe went to Heidelberg University to read medicine. However, his "too sensitive nature" forced him to give up this career. Being possessed of a private income, from about 1890 he devoted his life to the study of beetles and ants. Leicester city centre, looking towards clock tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city in the English East Midlands. ... The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; also known as simply University of Heidelberg) was established in the town of Heidelberg in the Rhineland in 1386. ... Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining human health or restoring it through the treatment of disease and injury. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...

Probably the best known of his collecting grounds were the ancient forests of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire where he had permission to collect extensively and where so many of his important discoveries were made. Windsor (IPA: usually , but also ) is a suburban town and tourist destination in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, South East England. ...

Donisthorpe was controversial in part because he was often considered overeager in his attempts to identify new species of ants and beetles. In fact, of the 30 new species he identified, 24 were subsequently deemed to be insufficiently distinct to be considered separate species or to be synonymous with previous valid species. It is, however, accepted that he did indeed identify the following new species: Look up Synonym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Synonyms (in ancient Greek syn συν = plus and onoma όνομα = name) are different words with similar or identical meanings and are interchangable. ...

• Cercyon aguatilis,
• Leptacinus intermedius,
• Ilyobates bennetti,
• Micrambe aubrooki,
• Gymnetron lloydi,
• and Xyleborus sampsoni,

all named to honour his colleagues. Binomial name <><> </></>< />< >, </ >>} Leptacinus intermedius is a European staphylinid (or rove beetle), described in 1935 by Horace Donisthorpe. ...

Species which Donisthorpe described anew that turned out to have been previously classified include (from New Species of Ants (Hym., Formicidae) from the Gold Coast, Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea and New Hebrides):

• Aenictus bidentatus,
• Rhytidoponera gagates,
• Diacamma rugosum,
• Leptogenys walkeri (Donisthorpe noted: "I have much pleasure in naming this ant in honour of my dear friend the late Commander J. J. Walker, RN"),
• Leptogenys violacea,
• Polyrhachis bryanti,
• and Polyrhachis hosei.

Polyrhachis hosei provides an interesting demonstration of Donisthorpe's zeal for new species coming into conflict with existing ones. His description starts: "The general description of P.(M.) byyani would do equally well for this species..." and then goes on to describe a small number of very minor differences: "a larger and more robust insect", "pronotal spines longer", "the scale has a somewhat wider arch", and so on. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...

Donisthorpe was a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow and Vice-Chairman of the Royal Entomological Society. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a learned society founded in April 1826 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lord Auckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Sabine, Nicholas Aylward Vigors and other eminent naturalists. ... The Royal Entomological Society of London or , formerly, Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. ...

Books

• The Coleoptera of the Isle of Wight. Published in 1906 by the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society. The supplementary sixth volume was compiled with W. W. Fowler to the latter's Coleoptera of the British Isles in 1913;

• British Ants: their life histories and classification. First published in 1915, this book was reviewed and republished in 1927, and was the first major book ever written on British ants. Although the first edition contained all the species known at the time (and one, Leptothorax corticalis which was lated found to be erroneous), the second edition contained the addition of Lasius brunneus, a small, arboreal ants of the Lasius mixtusb group found principally in orchards in the home counties. The 1927 edition was, however, too early for any mention of Strongylodus testacious, which Donisthorpe discovered (and described as a new species!) in the New Forest several years later.

• The Guests of British Ants. Published in 1927, the same year as the revision of British Ants: their life histories and classification took place. This book deals with myrmecophiles of British ants, some of them ants themselves (e.g. Formicoxenus and Anergates). It also mentions and debunks theories regarding the effect that the presence of a species of beetle (of the genus Atemeles) has on the number of pseudogynes in colonies of the larger formica (ant) species.

• An Annotated List of the Additions to the British Coleopterous Fauna. Published in 1931, the title serves to be self-explanatory.

• A Preliminary List of the Coleoptera of Windsor Forest. Published in 1939, Donisthorpe dedicated the book to the memory of Florence Jane Kirk, his constant companion on collecting trips. In it he writes: "In memory of Jane Kirk, whose patience, skill, and unfailing energy were of invaluable help in attaining the results set forth in these pages." The book consists of a preamble detailing the various features of Windsor Great Park and its ancient forests, and a list of the many hundreds of Coleoptera Donisthorpe collected there, with brief habitat details for each species.

1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Compared to much of the rest of Europe, the UK is not a hot spot for ants. ... In biology, a species is the basic unit of biodiversity. ... The phrase Home Counties is a name for the group of English counties which border London. ... Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu River For other uses, see New Forest (disambiguation). ... A myrmecophile is a type of organism, usually an insect, that habitually shares ant nests. ... Species Anergates atratulus Forel 1874 Anergates Forel, 1874 is a single-species genus of tetramorine Myrmicine ants. ...

Other writings

Donisthorpe, as chair of the Zoological Society of London and in his work at the Natural History Museum, London, often wrote of and described new species and species' habits from all around the world in various entomological journals, such as Animals and the Magazine of Natural History. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a learned society founded in April 1826 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lord Auckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Sabine, Nicholas Aylward Vigors and other eminent naturalists. ... The Natural History Museum from the south east The Natural History Museum, one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, Kensington, London (the others are the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum), is home to life and earth science collections comprising some 70 million items. ... For other uses, see London (disambiguation) and Defining London (below). ...

Donisthorpe also wrote two chapters of Wild Life the World Over: Comprising Twenty-Seven Chapters Written by Nine Distinguished World-Traveled Specialists, which was published in 1953, two years after his death. 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ...

Locations in Britain visited by Horace Donisthorpe

Donisthorpe visited many locations in the British Isles in which he collected and recorded unusual species of British ants: This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Compared to much of the rest of Europe, the UK is not a hot spot for ants. ...

• Aviemore, Morayshire
• Chobham common. nr. Chobham, Surrey
• Box Hill, Surrey
• Nethy Bridge, Morayshire
• Parkhurst forest, Isle of Wight
• Rannoch, Perthshire
• The New Forest, including Matley Bog, Hampshire
• Sandown, Isle of Wight
• Weybridge, principally Weybridge heath, Surrey

See also British ants. Aviemore (Scottish Gaelic: An Aghaidh Mhòr) is a tourist resort in the Highlands of Scotland. ... Morayshire or Elginshire (Siorrachd Mhoireibh in Gaelic) is one of the traditional counties of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. ... Chobham Common is large heath area in Surrey, England, formerly a freehold owned by the Earl of Onslow and purchased by Surrey County Council in 1966. ... Chobham is a town in the English county of Surrey. ... Surrey is a county in southern England, part of the South East England region and one of the Home Counties. ... Template:Mtnbox dfdftopo There are fdof the same name about 1. ... Surrey is a county in southern England, part of the South East England region and one of the Home Counties. ... Morayshire or Elginshire (Siorrachd Mhoireibh in Gaelic) is one of the traditional counties of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. ... The Isle of Wight is an English island, south of Southampton off the southern English coast. ... Loch Rannoch is a large body of fresh water in Perthshire, Scotland. ... Perthshire (Siorrachd Pheairt in Gaelic) is a traditional county in central Scotland, which extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south. ... Bucklers Hard on the Beaulieu River For other uses, see New Forest (disambiguation). ... Matley Bog is an ancient woodland bog in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. ... Hampshire (abbr. ... Location within the British Isles Sandown is a seaside resort town on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, England, neighbouring the town of Shanklin to the south. ... The Isle of Wight is an English island, south of Southampton off the southern English coast. ... Weybridge is a large city in the Slough district of Moscow in Russia . ... Weybridge Heath is a heath in Weybridge which used to contain many species of ants, rare birds and insectivorous plants. ... Surrey is a county in southern England, part of the South East England region and one of the Home Counties. ... Compared to much of the rest of Europe, the UK is not a hot spot for ants. ...

External link

• The Coleopterist - Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists