Richard Kenneth Dell (11 July 1920 – 6 March 2002) was a New Zealand

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

Biography

Dell was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1920. As a young boy, he took an interest in shells, collecting them from the shores of

Waitematā Harbour Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is one of two harbours adjoining the city. The harbour forms the northern and easter ...

. He even managed to start a "museum" in his backyard. He also helped curate the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...

shell collection. Dell studied at

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

and later at the

Auckland University College , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He took a teacher’s course at Auckland Teachers' College, but

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

delayed his plans to become a teacher. He joined the New Zealand Artillery, serving on

Nissan Island Nissan Island (also Green Island or Sir Charles Hardy Island) is the largest of the Green Islands of Papua New Guinea. It is located at , about 200 km east of Rabaul on New Britain and about 200 km north-west of Bougainville. The isl ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

, Southwest Asia,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He later published several papers on the

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

s he had collected in the Solomon Islands. In 1946, he married botanist and schoolteacher

Miriam Matthews Miriam Matthews (August 6, 1905 – June 23, 2003) was an American librarian, advocate for intellectual freedom, historian, and art collector. In 1927, Matthews became the first credentialed African American librarian to be hired by the Los Ange ...

, and they had four daughters together. His wife continued working after their marriage and became a well-known women's advocate. After the war, Dell was offered a job as malacologist at the

Dominion Museum The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, where he started to standardise the cabinets and built up a collection of more than 30,000 specimens. In the meantime, he took a master's degree in Science at

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, with a pioneering thesis on

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

es and

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

. His breakthrough came with the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...

Expedition of 1954. The results were published in 1956 as ''The Archibenthal Mollusca of New Zealand'', which was a major contribution to the knowledge of

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

an fauna in the

bathyal zone The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagi ...

of New Zealand waters. This publication earned him a Doctorate in Science in 1956. Soon after, Dell started to work on

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

collections, with among others

Alan Beu Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *Al ...

and

Winston Ponder Winston Frank Ponder (born 1941) is a noted malacologist born and educated in New Zealand who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially micromolluscs. Education and career Ponder graduated with an MSc, PhD (1968) ...

. In 1964, he published a major

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

on the Antarctic

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

chiton Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized. They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail s ...

s and scaphopods. Dell became first Assistant Director in 1961 and later in 1966, Director of the Dominion Museum, which would become the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

. He retired in 1980, and started writing again. In 1990, he published his standard work ''Antarctic Mollusca with special reference to the Fauna of the Ross Sea''. Dell published more than 150 papers on

Mollusca Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

(marine, terrestrial and freshwater),

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

s and

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s. He also made a major contribution to the Antarctic

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

Honours and awards

In the

1981 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1981 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, Dell was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. In 1977, he was awarded the

Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'argent de la reine Elizabeth II) is a commemorative medal created in 1977 to mark the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. The medal is p ...

, and in 1990 he received the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

. He was an honoured member of many scientific societies and committees. He won prizes and medals in New Zealand and abroad, including the Hamilton Prize in 1955, and the

Hector Medal The Hector Medal, formerly known as the Hector Memorial Medal, is a science award given by the Royal Society Te Apārangi in memory of Sir James Hector to researchers working in New Zealand. It is awarded annually in rotation for different science ...

in 1965, both awarded by the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. He has named many new species of molluscs and several new

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

Death

Dell died in 2002, after a long illness, in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. He was survived by his wife, Dame Miriam Dell, and their four daughters.

Selected publications

; In scientific journals : * Dell, R.K. (1950) ''A Tertiary molluscan fauna from Waikowhai, Manukau Harbour, Auckland''. Dominion Museum Records in Zoology, 1, 29–37. * Dell, R.K. (1952) ''A revision of the molluscan fauna of the Hurupi beds, southern Wairarapa''. Dominion Museum Records in Zoology, 1, 71–86. * Dell, R.K. (1953) ''A molluscan fauna from the Chatham Rise, New Zealand''. Dominion Museum Records in Zoology, 2, 37–50. * Dell, R.K. (1955) ''Nature in New Zealand Native Shells''. A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 64 pp. * Dell, R.K. (1956) ''The archibenthal Mollusca of New Zealand''. Dominion Museum Bulletin, 18, 1–235. * Dell, R.K. (1956) ''Some new off-shore Mollusca from New Zealand''. Dominion Museum Records in Zoology, 3, 27–59. * Dell, R.K. (1962) ''Additional archibenthal Mollusca from New Zealand''. Dominion Museum Records in Zoology, 4, 67–76. * Dell, R.K. (1963) ''Notes on some New Zealand Mollusca in the British Museum''. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Zoology, 3, 171–177. * Dell, R.K. (1963) ''Archibenthal Mollusca from northern New Zealand''. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Zoology, 3, 205–216. * Dell, R.K. (1972) ''Notes on nomenclature of some Mollusca from Antarctica and southern South America''. Records of the Dominion Museum, 8, 21–42. * Dell, R.K. (1990) ''Antarctic Mollusca with special reference to the fauna of the Ross Sea''. The Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin, 27, 1–311. ; Other publications: * ''The New Zealand Cephalopoda'' (1952) * ''The fresh-water Mollusca of New Zealand'', 3 parts (1953–1956) * ''The position of systematics in the biological sciences'' (1953) * ''Cephalopoda'' (1959) * ''Antarctic and Subantarctic Mollusca, Bivalvia, Amphineura and Scaphopoda ''(1964)

Taxa named by R.K. Dell

Apart from having named numerous species in the

and some in the

Crustacea Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

, he has also established a number of new genera : * ''

Alertalex ''Maurea'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, in the family Calliostomatidae Calliostomatidae is a family of sea snails within the superfamily Trochoidea and the clade Vetigastropoda.Gofas, S. (2013). Calliostomatidae. A ...

'' Dell, 1956 (Calliostomatidae) * '' Antarctodomus'' Dell, 1972 (Buccinidae) * '' Benthomodiolus'' Dell, 1987 (Mytilidae ) * '' Cavellioropa'' Dell, 1952 (Charopidae) * ''Chathamidia'' Dell, 1956 : synonym of ''Exilia Conrad'', 1860 (Ptychatractidae) * '' Falsitromina'' Dell, 1990 (Buccinidae) * '' Flammoconcha'' Dell, 1952 (Charopidae) * Maoriconcha Dell, 1952 (Charopidae) * '' Maoricrater'' Dell, 1956 (Lepetidae) * '' Maoriscaphander'' Dell, 1950 (Cylichnidae) * '' Obanella'' Dell, 1952 (Charopidae) * '' Pseudegestula'' Dell, 1954 (Charopidae) * family Rhizoridae Dell, 1952 (superfamily Philinoidea) riginally regarded as a synonym of Retusidae by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) but reinstated as valid by Malaquias ''et al.'' (2009) ] * ''Rissopsetia'' Dell, 1956 (Pyramidellidae) * ''Ruapukea'' Dell, 1952 (Aclididae) * ''Tasmalira'' Dell, 1956 (Cerithiopsidae) * ''Tasmocrossea'' Dell, 1952 (Skeneidae) * ''Tecticrater'' Dell, 1956 (Lepetellidae) * (Crustacea) '' Pteropeltarion'' Dell, 1972 (Trichopeltariidae)

Taxa named in honour of R.K. DellWoRMS: Species with epithet delli
/ref>

* The Sea Snail '' Brookula delli'' Numanami, 1996 * The Sa Snail '' Calliotropis delli'' Marshall, 1979 * '' Carditella delli'' Crozier, 1966 * '' Cuspidaria delli'' Knudsen, 1970 * '' Cyclochlamys delli'' Dijkstra & Marshall, 2008 * '' Cymonomus delli'' Griffin & Brown, 1975 * The fish Genus '' Dellichthys'' Briggs, 1955 * The Sea Snail '' Eatoniella delli'' Ponder, 1965 * ''

Gasparia delli ''Gasparia'' is a genus of South Pacific araneomorph spiders in the family Toxopidae, and was first described by Brian J. Marples in 1956. Originally placed with the intertidal spiders, it was moved to the Toxopidae in 2017. Species it contain ...

'' (Forster, 1955) * '' Limatula delli'' Fleming, 1978 * '' Neilo delli'' B.A. Marshall, 1978 * '' Nereis delli'' Knox, 1960 * '' Nuculana delliana'' Huber, 2010 * '' Ogyrides delli'' Yaldwyn, 1971 * The Sea Snail '' Otukaia delli'' McLean & Andrade, 1982 * The Sea Snail '' Penion benthicolus delli'' Powell, 1971 * '' Platypodia delli'' Takeda & Webber, 2006 * '' Podocatactes delli'' (Guinot, 1989) (basionym: ''Trachycarcinus delli'' Guinot, 1989) * The Sea Snail '' Tractolira delli'' Leal & Harasewych, 2005 * The Sea Snail ''Zeacolpus delli'' Marwick, 1957 : synonym of '' Stiracolpus pagoda'' (Reeve, 1849)

References

Sources

* Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1-1295

External links

Biography and photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dell, Richard 1920 births 2002 deaths New Zealand malacologists 20th-century New Zealand zoologists Victoria University of Wellington alumni People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Presidents of the Royal Society of New Zealand Companions of the Queen's Service Order