Gerlof Fokko Mees (16 June 1926 – 31 March 2013) was a Dutch

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and museum

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

. During 1946 to 1949 he took part as a conscript in the military actions to reestablish rule in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. During that time he became interested in the avian family

Zosteropidae The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...

, comprising the

white-eye The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...

s. Mees was born at

Bloemendaal Bloemendaal () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Bloemendaal is, together with Wassenaar, the wealthiest place in the Netherlands. In October 2015, after persistent problems with the local governa ...

in the Netherlands. He was introduced to natural history by his parents and was introduced to birds by his uncle Jan Verwey. He attended the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

where he studied biology, obtaining his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in 1956 with a break in Java as part of the Dutch forces during the Indonesian war of independence. It was during his time in Java that he took a special interest in white-eyes (''Zosterops'') and also an introduction to

George Junge George Christoffel Alexander Junge (7 August 1905 – 3 February 1962) was a Dutch ornithologist who was an expert on the birds of Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, and New Guinea. He was born in Haarlem and studied zoology at the University o ...

. During 1953-54 he visited Trinidad and Tobago and collected bird specimens. He was an assistant at the department birds of the

Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (National Museum of Natural History) was a museum on the Rapenburg in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1820 by Royal Decree from a merger of several existing collections. This happened on the initi ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

from May 1955 to June 1957. His doctoral thesis was on the Indo-Australian Zosteropidae. Thereafter he became Curator of Vertebrates at the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

from 1958 to 1963. While in Australia he met and married Veronica. The death of Junge led to his appointment back in the Netherlands as Curator of Birds at the Rijksmuseum in Leiden. He held the position until his retirement, after which he returned to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1991, and lived in Perth and Northcliffe. He died in

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

, Western Australia. He gave the first description of the unusual fish species, the salamander fish of Western Australia.

Mees's nightjar Mees's nightjar (''Caprimulgus meesi'') is a member of the nightjar family (Caprimulgidae) described as new to science in 2004. It is a representative of the large-tailed nightjar complex found on Flores and Sumba, Indonesia. Previously unrecogn ...

, the proposed name for the new species ''Caprimulgus meesi'', is named for him. Sangster, G. and F. Rozendaal (2004
''Territorial songs and species-level taxonomy of nightjars of the ''Caprimulgus macrurus'' complex, with the description of a new species.''
Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) Vol. 350 pp. 7-45

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Further reading