Kitti Thonglongya (, October 6, 1928 - February 12, 1974) was an eminent

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

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

mammalogist In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part o ...

. He is probably best known for two discoveries of endangered species.

Life

Thonglongya was born in Bangkok and graduated with a degree in biology from the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok in 1953. He then worked as a zoologist in a museum set up by the National science society and in 1956 he moved to the Thai Conservation Society. In 1965 he became the curator at the Thai National Reference Collection.Schlitter, Duane A. (1975) Kitti Thonglongya, 1928–1974. Journal of Mammalogy 56(1):279–280

Career

The

Kitti's hog-nosed bat Kitti's hog-nosed bat (''Craseonycteris thonglongyai''), also known as the bumblebee bat, is a near-threatened species of bat and the only extant member of the family Craseonycteridae. It occurs in western Thailand Thailand ( ), histor ...

, ''Craseonycteris thonglongyai'', the smallest species of bat and the smallest mammal in the world, was found by him in 1973. He died suddenly from a massive heart attack, so the formal description was written by his British colleague, John E. Hill, who named the species in honour of its discoverer. He went on to discover other new bat species, such as the extremely rare

Salim Ali's fruit bat Salim Ali's fruit bat (''Latidens salimalii'') is a rare megabat species in the monotypic genus ''Latidens''. It was first collected by Angus Hutton, a planter and naturalist in the High Wavy Mountains in the Western Ghats of Theni district, ...

, ''Latidens salimalii'', which had been misidentified in an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n collection. In the field of ornithology Kitti Thonglongya's best known discovery was of the

white-eyed river martin The white-eyed river martin (''Pseudochelidon sirintarae'') is a passerine bird, one of only two members of the river martin subfamily of the swallows. Since it has significant differences from its closest relative, the African river martin, it ...

, ''Pseudochelidon sirintarae'', in 1969. This large

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

, whose scientific name commemorates Princess

Sirindhorn Thepratanasuda Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, The Princess Royal and Princess Debaratana Rajasuda ( th, มหาจักรีสิรินธร, ; ; born April 2, 1955), formerly Princess Sirindhorn Debaratanasuda Kitivadhanadulsobhak ( th, สมเ ...

, was found wintering at a lake in central

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, but its breeding grounds are unknown. It may now be extinct. The first two Thai specimens of the

Mekong wagtail The Mekong wagtail (''Motacilla samveasnae'') is a species of bird in the family Motacillidae. It was first described in 2001 and named in honour of the late Cambodian ornithologist Sam Veasna. It is a black and white bird, similar in appearance ...

, ''Motacilla samveasna'', were collected by Kitti Thonglongya in December 1972. He co-authored ''Bats from Thailand and Cambodia'', and started the taxonomic study of bats of Thailand which appeared after his death as ''The Bats and Bat's Parasites of Thailand''.

Notes

References

* *Edwards, John; Thonglongya, Kitti (1972) "Bats from Thailand and Cambodia" ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology.'' 22(6) * Hill, J. E. & McNeely, Jeffrey A, ''The Bats and Bat's Parasites of Thailand''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thonglongya, Kitti 1928 births 1974 deaths

Kitti Thonglongya Kitti Thonglongya (, October 6, 1928 - February 12, 1974) was an eminent Thailand, Thai ornithologist and mammalogy, mammalogist. He is probably best known for two discoveries of endangered species. Life Thonglongya was born in Bangkok and gradua ...

20th-century zoologists