Marcus William Robert deVere Graham (25 March 1915 - 27 March 1995) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

who specialised in the

Chalcidoidea Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, me ...

superfamily of the

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

. He was associated with both

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and

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Early life

Graham was born on 25 March 1915 in Rainton,

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, the son of the Reverend Robert Graham who was originally from

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

and Ms Bertha Heaton of Windermere. He developed an interest in entomology as a boy. He enlisted in the British Army at the start of World War II and served in India from 1942 until the end of the war.

Entomology

Graham began to publish entomological papers in 1941. He entered Trinity College to study for a degree in Natural Science at the end of 1945, graduating in 1950 with both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree, being awarded First Class Honours and a Gold Medal. While he was still a student he recorded the first record of the sawfly '' Harpiphorus lepidus'' for Ireland. This species remains rare in Ireland. Also while in Ireland he was mentored by

Arthur Wilson Stelfox Arthur Wilson Stelfox (15 December 1883–19 May 1972) was an Irish naturalist and architect. Stelfox was a recognised authority on Hymenoptera and on non-marine Mollusca especially the genus ''Pisidium''. He also made important contributi ...

and studied the Braconidae, especially their taxonomy. He and Stelfox published several joint papers during this time which described several species new to science. However, Stelfox advised him to concentrate on the Chalcidoidea. Soon after returning to England he was appointed curator of the University Museum, Hope Department at Oxford University. In 1953 he married Eleanor Mary Scheppens, nicknamed Nora, and their only child, a son called John, was born in 1957. In 1955 he was awarded a D, Phil. degree by the University of Oxford, where as well as curating he was an administrator, teacher and researcher. He was a major contributor to the knowledge of the European Chalcid fauna, especially the

Pteromalidae The Pteromalidae are a very large family of mostly parasitoid wasps, with some 3,450 described species in about 640 genera (the number was greater, but many species and genera have been reduced by synonymy in recent years). The subfamily-level di ...

, Mymaridae and the Eulophidae. Nora was also interested in entomology and often joined Marcus on collecting expeditions and she collected the type specimen of the striking Braconid ''

Chorebus norae ''Chorebus'' is a genus of parasitoid wasps in the family Braconidae. There are around 430 accepted species in the genus. The genus was first described in 1833 by Alexander Henry Haliday Alexander Henry Haliday (1806–1870, also known as ...

'' on one such trip to

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, which Graham named in her honour. He retained his links with Dublin where he worked on Trinity College's Haliday Collection, carefully curating the collection to restore its scientific utility. The research he conducted during his visits to Trinity College enabled him to make many important discoveries and as a result of the field work he conducted in Ireland, he was able to add many species of

chalcid wasp Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, me ...

to the list of those found in Ireland, some beong new to science. Among the pteromalids he found in Ireland many have yet to be found in Britain He retired from the Hope in 1981, and made his last visit to Dublin in 1984. During his career he described 60 new genera and 475 species of Hymenoptera.

Other interests

Outside of entomology Graham had a number of interests including languages, especially Romance languages, mediaeval literature, history, naval architecture and painting. However, he continued to work on entomology after retirement and was preparing a paper on the revision of the genus '' Torymus'' when he died, he refereed a paper for the ''Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society'' just before he died and gave the authors invaluable advice, despite his failing health and hospitalisation. He died on 27 March 1995 and was survived by his wife, Nora, and son, John.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Marcus (entomologist) English entomologists Hymenopterists 1915 births 1995 deaths 20th-century British zoologists