The Great Collector John Waterstradt.
Oct 20, 2015 17:51:35 GMT
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Post by nomad on Oct 20, 2015 17:51:35 GMT
During the late 1960s, H.S. Barlow of the British Museum was working on the lepidoptera from Mount Kinabalu, Sabah Northwest Borneo, that were captured by the 1965 Cambridge expedition. On comparing the new material with that the museum already held from Mount Kinabalu, he found that it had nearly all been collected by John Waterstradt from Denmark.
Barlow could find scant information regarding the collecting activies of John Waterstradt. Barlow with the help of his entomological friends, including one Dr Tams was able to track down Waterstradt's daughter in Denmark who loaned him her fathers diaries. Although not comprehensive, John Waterstradt diaries gives us an idea of his travels in search of birds, insects and orchids in Southeast Asia during the years 1891 to 1903. Barlow's article was published in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol 42 No 2 Pages 115-129. The article can be read on Jstor www.jstor.org/stable/41491995?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents. However, as some may not wish to join or download this paper at cost, here is a brief account of Waterstradt's journeys through Asia in search of butterflies.
Barlow's article does not go into any details about the butterflies that Waterstradt discovered and some of his most memorable species that he collected will be mentioned here .
Starting as a Collector.
Johannes or John Waterstradt 1869-1944 was born in Denmark of German extraction. His father was a market gardener but young Waterstradt did not want to join his father in the business and joined the navy for a few years before taking passage to Australia in 1891. On board he met three German lepidoptera collectors Mitschke, Schwarz and Stum who were going to Ceylon to collect butterflies for Otto Staudinger ( 1830-1900), that great German entomologist and Natural History Dealer and Waterstradt was persuaded to join them. Waterstradt's new collector friends were infact a bad lot and after falling ill with pneumonia and being admitted to hospital they deserted him and took all of his money.
Having recovered Waterstradt was lucky enought to meet the great German collector, Hans Fruhstorfer ( 1866-1922) and together they collected together in Ceylon. Waterstradt then returned with Fruhstorfer to Penang and Singapore but through ill health his new friend was obliged to return to Europe. It was time for Waterstradt to strike out on his own.
Mount Kinabalu.
During his time in the east Waterstradt set out on several expeditions to Mount Kinabalu in North Borneo. Waterstradt had found this a very rich collecting locality. 625 species of butterfly have been recorded in the Mount Kinabalu area. Waterstradt was not the first to collect insects on Mt Kinabalu. The English collector John Whitehead (1860 -1899) who was especially interested in Ornithology and Zoology collected butterflies on the mountain..
Mount Kinabalu rises to an impressive 4095 meters and Waterstradt who was now based on the Island of Labuan lying of the west coast of Borneo, reached the mountain by way of the Tuaran and Tempassak River valley's. In 1892-1893 Waterstradt made two expeditions to Mount Kinabalu, mostly collecting in the foothills. He returned to the mountain in 1895 and in 1901. Waterstradt often collected for several months at a time and he built huts for himself and for his Malay collectors. After returning to Europe in 1904, Waterstradt made two more visits to the east during 1908 and 1912 and both to were to his beloved Kinabalu. The later expeditions were mainly to collect Orchids because by that time Waterstradt was Denmarks main dealer than specialized in this fabulous plants. Waterstradt insects, both his lepidoptera and coleoptera from his earlier Mount Kinabalu expeditions mainly went to Otto Staudinger.
Troides andromache.
During his first expedition in 1892, Waterstradt was collecting on the heavily forested slopes of Mount Kinabalu at 1500 meters. The sun had broken through the mornings dew laden mist when Waterstradt saw a large female golden and black Troides fluttering at a Mussaenda flower, a sweep of his net and he had caught a new species of Birdwing. Waterstradt obtained four more females and a male which were sent to Otto Staudinger who named the new birdwing Troides andromache (1892). The syntypes of T. andromache are in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and two of these are shown below.
Later in 1896 while collecting on Mount Marapok in North Borneo, his collectors bought Waterstradt more specimens of both sexes T. andromache that he sent to Hans Fruhstorfer who considered them a new subspecies marapokensis (1898). The Fruhstorfer types of marapokensis are in the BMNH.
Waterstradt found a number of new butterflies, moths and beetles on Mount Kinabalu among them a new Pieridae, Delias cinerascens Mitis 1893 and quite a few Lycaenids including Tarucus waterstradtii Druce 1895.
Barlow could find scant information regarding the collecting activies of John Waterstradt. Barlow with the help of his entomological friends, including one Dr Tams was able to track down Waterstradt's daughter in Denmark who loaned him her fathers diaries. Although not comprehensive, John Waterstradt diaries gives us an idea of his travels in search of birds, insects and orchids in Southeast Asia during the years 1891 to 1903. Barlow's article was published in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol 42 No 2 Pages 115-129. The article can be read on Jstor www.jstor.org/stable/41491995?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents. However, as some may not wish to join or download this paper at cost, here is a brief account of Waterstradt's journeys through Asia in search of butterflies.
Barlow's article does not go into any details about the butterflies that Waterstradt discovered and some of his most memorable species that he collected will be mentioned here .
Starting as a Collector.
Johannes or John Waterstradt 1869-1944 was born in Denmark of German extraction. His father was a market gardener but young Waterstradt did not want to join his father in the business and joined the navy for a few years before taking passage to Australia in 1891. On board he met three German lepidoptera collectors Mitschke, Schwarz and Stum who were going to Ceylon to collect butterflies for Otto Staudinger ( 1830-1900), that great German entomologist and Natural History Dealer and Waterstradt was persuaded to join them. Waterstradt's new collector friends were infact a bad lot and after falling ill with pneumonia and being admitted to hospital they deserted him and took all of his money.
Having recovered Waterstradt was lucky enought to meet the great German collector, Hans Fruhstorfer ( 1866-1922) and together they collected together in Ceylon. Waterstradt then returned with Fruhstorfer to Penang and Singapore but through ill health his new friend was obliged to return to Europe. It was time for Waterstradt to strike out on his own.
Mount Kinabalu.
During his time in the east Waterstradt set out on several expeditions to Mount Kinabalu in North Borneo. Waterstradt had found this a very rich collecting locality. 625 species of butterfly have been recorded in the Mount Kinabalu area. Waterstradt was not the first to collect insects on Mt Kinabalu. The English collector John Whitehead (1860 -1899) who was especially interested in Ornithology and Zoology collected butterflies on the mountain..
Mount Kinabalu rises to an impressive 4095 meters and Waterstradt who was now based on the Island of Labuan lying of the west coast of Borneo, reached the mountain by way of the Tuaran and Tempassak River valley's. In 1892-1893 Waterstradt made two expeditions to Mount Kinabalu, mostly collecting in the foothills. He returned to the mountain in 1895 and in 1901. Waterstradt often collected for several months at a time and he built huts for himself and for his Malay collectors. After returning to Europe in 1904, Waterstradt made two more visits to the east during 1908 and 1912 and both to were to his beloved Kinabalu. The later expeditions were mainly to collect Orchids because by that time Waterstradt was Denmarks main dealer than specialized in this fabulous plants. Waterstradt insects, both his lepidoptera and coleoptera from his earlier Mount Kinabalu expeditions mainly went to Otto Staudinger.
Troides andromache.
During his first expedition in 1892, Waterstradt was collecting on the heavily forested slopes of Mount Kinabalu at 1500 meters. The sun had broken through the mornings dew laden mist when Waterstradt saw a large female golden and black Troides fluttering at a Mussaenda flower, a sweep of his net and he had caught a new species of Birdwing. Waterstradt obtained four more females and a male which were sent to Otto Staudinger who named the new birdwing Troides andromache (1892). The syntypes of T. andromache are in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and two of these are shown below.
Later in 1896 while collecting on Mount Marapok in North Borneo, his collectors bought Waterstradt more specimens of both sexes T. andromache that he sent to Hans Fruhstorfer who considered them a new subspecies marapokensis (1898). The Fruhstorfer types of marapokensis are in the BMNH.
Waterstradt found a number of new butterflies, moths and beetles on Mount Kinabalu among them a new Pieridae, Delias cinerascens Mitis 1893 and quite a few Lycaenids including Tarucus waterstradtii Druce 1895.