Robert Charles Wroughton (15 August 1849, in
Naseerabad – 15 May 1921) was an officer in the
Indian Forest Service from 10 December 1871 to 1904.
He was a member of the
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and was interested in
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 ...
, particularly
ants and then later took an interest in
scorpions due to his interaction with
Reginald Innes Pocock
Reginald Innes Pocock F.R.S. (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a British zoologist.
Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward ...
.
His major work was on the
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s of India and after his retirement in 1904, became a regular worker at the
Natural History Museum in
London. He initially took an interest in
African mammals and there was little material from
India. He persuaded his friends in India to collect specimens and this led to a collaborative mammal survey in 1911. Interest in small mammals was also raised by work on plague particularly due to the work of Captain Glen Liston who delivered a special address to the members of the BNHS. Collectors for the small mammal survey included C. A. Crump (Khandesh, Darjeeling),
Sir Ernest Hotson (Baluchistan), R. Shunkara Narayan Pillay (Travancore), J. M. D. Mackenzie (Burma), Captain Philip Gosse (Poona, Nilgiris),
S. H. Prater
Stanley Henry Prater (12 March 1890 – 12 October 1960) was an Anglo-Indian naturalist in India best known as a long-time affiliate of the Bombay Natural History Society and the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay, as ther curat ...
(Satara),
Charles McCann
Yule Mervyn Charles McCann (4 December 1899 – 29 November 1980) was a naturalist in India. He wrote a popular book on the trees of India and edited a major regional flora apart from publishing many of his other observations, mainly in the jou ...
and others and the survey went on until 1923. It is believed to be the first collaborative biodiversity study in the world. The project accumulated 50,000 specimens over 12 years, especially of the smaller mammals and the information was published in 47 papers. Wroughton was also helped by his brother-in-law T. B. Fry who continued to work after his death in 1921.
[Kinnear, N. B. (1951) The history of Indian Mammalogy and Ornithology. Part 1. JBNHS 50:766-778] Several new species were discovered in the process.
Numerous species are named after him including
* Wroughton's Free-tailed Bat (''
Otomops wroughtoni
Wroughton's free-tailed bat (''Otomops wroughtoni'') is a free-tailed bat formerly considered to be confined to the Western Ghats area of India, though it has also recently been discovered in northeast India and in a remote part of Cambodia. I ...
'')
* Many ant species: (''Aenictus wroughtonii'', ''Camponotus wroughtonii'', ''Cardiocondyla wroughtonii'', ''Carebara wroughtonii'', ''Chronoxenus wroughtonii'', ''Crematogaster wroughtonii'', ''Hypoponera confinis wroughtonii'', ''Lepisiota rothneyi wroughtonii'', ''Monomorium wroughtoni'', ''Monomorium wroughtonianum'', ''Pheidole wroughtonii'', ''Platythrea wroughtonii'', ''Polyrhachis wroughtonii'', ''Rhoptromyrmex wroughtonii'', ''Tapinoma wroughtonii'', ''Temnothorax wroughtonii'')
Publications
# Wroughton R C 1912a. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 1. J.
Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants and publi ...
21(2):392-410.
# Wroughton R C 1912b. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 2. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(3):820-825.
# Wroughton R C 1912c. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 3. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(3):826-844.
# Wroughton R C 1912d. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 4. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(3):844-851.
# Wroughton R C 1912e. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 5. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(4):1170-1195.
# Wroughton R C and K V Ryley 1913a. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 6. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22(1): 29-44.
# Wroughton R C and K V Ryley 1913b. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 7. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22(1): 45-47.
# Wroughton R C and K V Ryley 1913c. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 8. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22(1): 58-66.
# Wroughton R C. 1913. Scientific results from the mammal survey # III. J. Bombay Nat. Hist Soc. 22(1): 13-21.
# Wroughton R C 1914. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 15. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(2):282-301.
# Wroughton R C 1915a. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 16. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(3):413-416.
# Wroughton R C 1915b. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 17. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(4):695-720.
# Wroughton R C. 1915c. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XI. J. Bombay Nat. Hist Soc. 24(1): 29-65.
# Wroughton R C 1915d. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 18. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(1):79-96.
# Wroughton R C 1915e. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 19. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(1):96-110.
# Wroughton R C 1916a. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 20. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(2):291-309.
# Wroughton R C 1916b. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India:Report 21. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(2):309-310.
# Wroughton R C 1916c. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India:Report 22. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(2):311-316.
# Wroughton R C 1916d. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India:Report 23. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(3):468-493.
# Wroughton R C 1916e. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 24. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(4):749-758.
# Wroughton R C 1916f. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India:Report 25. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(4):758-773.
# Wroughton R C 1916g. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 26. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(4):773-782.
# Wroughton R C. 1917a. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XV. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(1): 40-51
# Wroughton R C 1917b. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 27. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(1):63-71.
# Wroughton R C 1917c. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 28. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(2):274-278.
# Wroughton R C. 1918a. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XVII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(3): 361.
# Wroughton R C 1918b. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society, Part I. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(4): 547-598.
# Wroughton R C 1918c. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society, Part II. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 26(1): 19-58.
# Wroughton R C 1919. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society, Part III. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 26(2): 338-378.
# Wroughton R C 1920a. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society, Part VI. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(1): 57-85.
# Wroughton R C 1920b. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society, PartVII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(2): 301-313.
# Wroughton R C 1920c. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 32.J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(2):314-322.
# Wroughton R C 1921a. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society, Appendix. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):520-534.
# Wroughton R C 1921b. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 33. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):545-549.
# Wroughton R C 1921c. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 34. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):549-553.
# Wroughton R C 1921d. Bombay Natural History Society's Mammal Survey of India: Report 35. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):553-554.
# Wroughton R C. 1921e. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XXVI. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3): 599-601.
# Wroughton R C. 1921f. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XXVIII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(4): 773-777.
# Wroughton R C. 1921g. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XXIX. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 28(1): 23-25
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wroughton, Robert Charles
Naturalists of British India
1849 births
1921 deaths
Imperial Forestry Service officers
Members of the Bombay Natural History Society