Darrell John Kitchener (born 1943) is a biologist who has been active in mammalian research in
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. He is the author of over one hundred papers, published while employed as the senior research biologist at the
Western Australian Museum, and described many new species of mammals during his 28 years in that position. Kitchener was born on 9 June 1943 in
Victoria, Australia. He obtained degrees in botany and zoological sciences at the
University of Tasmania and completed his Ph.D. at the
University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...
. His works include contributions to the Australian Museum's ''Complete book of Australian mammals''.
The
specific epithet
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
for the free-tailed bat ''
Mormopterus kitcheneri'' — found in the
Southwest Australia ecoregion and first described in 2014 — commemorates Kitchener "for his prolific contribution to elucidating the systematics of Indo-Australian mammals, especially bats".
References
1943 births
Australian zoologists
People from Victoria (state)
Living people
University of Tasmania alumni
University of Western Australia alumni
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