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

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 ...

. 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, ''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 List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n collection. In the field of ornithology Kitti Thonglongya's best known discovery was of the white-eyed river martin, ''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 b ...

, but its breeding grounds are unknown. It may now be extinct. The first two Thai specimens of the Mekong wagtail, ''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 20th-century zoologists