Thomas Jeffery Parker F.R.S. (17 October 1850 – 7 November 1897) was a

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

who worked in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Biography

Parker was born at 124 Tachbrook Street in London on 17 October 1850 the son of the anatomist

William Kitchen Parker William Kitchen Parker FRS FRMS (23 June 1823 – 3 July 1890) was a British physician, zoologist and comparative anatomist. From a humble beginning he became Hunterian Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the College of Surgeons of Engl ...

. He studied at Clarendon House School and graduated from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1868. At the age of 22, he worked with

Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The storie ...

in Huxley's zoological demonstrations, forming a teaching collection and organising laboratory practicals. Huxley's work on

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

kindled in Parker an interest in

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 ...

s, and he went on to study the marine "crayfish" (

spiny lobster Spiny lobsters, also known as langustas, langouste, or rock lobsters, are a family (Palinuridae) of about 60 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia. Spiny lobsters are also, especially in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, So ...

s) of New Zealand, together with his student

Josephine Gordon Rich Josephine Gordon Rich later Haswell (1866–1940) was a New Zealand zoologist and one of only four New Zealand women who published results of her scientific work before 1901. Early life and education Rich was born in 1866 in Spaxton, England, ...

, who later married

William Aitcheson Haswell William Aitcheson Haswell (5 August 1854 – 24 January 1925) was a Scottish-Australian zoologist specialising in crustaceans, winner of the 1915 Clarke Medal. His zoological author abbreviation is Haswell. Taxa authored by him are given in :T ...

. On 23 December 1874, Thomas Jeffery Parker married Charlotte Elizabeth Rossell in Bramley, Yorkshire. In 1880, they emigrated to New Zealand. Parker become Professor of Zoology at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, succeeding Frederick Hutton. He was also

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 ...

of the

Otago Museum Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...

, and was "the first trained biologist in the colony". MA I348583 TePapa Interior-of-Museum-Dunedin full

Parker sent a display of a series of skulls to the

Melbourne International Exhibition The Melbourne International Exhibition is the eighth World's fair officially recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and the first official World's Fair in the Southern Hemisphere. Preparations After being granted self-go ...

in 1880, which was later reused in the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin. The display used coloured wires and painted bones to show the evolution of the vertebrate skull. Indeed, Parker was noted by a Tuapeka Times correspondent as having a "mania for skeletons... ndhas procured some splendid and interesting specimens of birds and fish." In 1883, Parker obtained a fin whale specimen from Captain William Jackson Barry, who had himself bought and exhibited it in Nelson. The fin whale skeleton is still a central feature of the current Maritime Gallery. Parker was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

on 7 June 1888. In his later years, Parker suffered from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, and he died on 7 November 1897 at

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. After his death, Parker was succeeded at the University of Otago by William Blaxland Benham.

Works

Parker produced more than 40

scientific paper : ''For a broader class of literature, see Academic publishing.'' Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences. Within an academic field, scienti ...

s. They include nine papers on

moa Moa are extinct giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. The term has also come to be used for chicken in many Polynesian cultures and is found in the names of many chicken recipes, such as Kale moa and Moa Samoa. Moa or MOA may also refe ...

s published between 1889 and 1895, and a 100-page monograph on the history of the

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

, which was later condensed into two articles in the New Zealand Journal of Science. Parker identified a new species of sea cucumber (''Chirodota dunedinensis'', now '' Taeniogyrus dunedinensis'') soon after arriving in Dunedin. Despite living in different countries, Parker wrote an introductory textbook on zoology together with

, which continued to be used into the 1960s.

Memoirs on New Zealand animals

* "On the Structure and Development of Apteryx" * "On the Cranial Osteology, Classification, and Phylogeny of the Dinornithidæ" *"Observations on the anatomy and development of ''Apteryx''". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: 182: 25-134

Books

* ''Zoötomy'' (1884)
''Lessons in Elementary Biology''
(1890) * ( in 2 volumes).See also
vol1
an
vol2
in IA3rd ed., 1921
in BHL.7th ed. 1972: .

Taxon named in his honor

*The Oarfish ''

Agrostichthys parkeri ''Agrostichthys parkeri'', also called the streamer fish, is a species of oarfish. Only seven identified specimens have been examined, with few found fully intact, and have mainly been found in the Southern Ocean. ''Agrostichthys parkeri'' belon ...

'' ( Benham, 1904) was named after him.

Notes

References

* Source for the list of works. NIE used his zoology text for its animal classification needs.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, T. Jeffery 1850 births 1897 deaths Scientists from London Alumni of the University of London English ornithologists British carcinologists University of Otago faculty Fellows of the Royal Society People associated with Otago Museum British emigrants to New Zealand