New Zealand zoologist and malacologist (1920–2002)
Richard Kenneth Dell
QSO (11 July 1920 – 6 March 2002) was a New Zealand
malacologist .
Biography
Dell was born in
Auckland in 1920. As a young boy, he took an interest in
shells , collecting them from the shores of
Waitematā Harbour . He even managed to start a "museum" in his backyard. He also helped curate the
Auckland War Memorial Museum shell collection.
[1]
Dell studied at
Mount Albert Grammar School and later at the
Auckland University College . He took a teacher’s course at
Auckland Teachers' College , but
World War II delayed his plans to become a teacher. He joined the New Zealand Artillery, serving on
Nissan Island , the
Solomon Islands , Southwest Asia,
Egypt , and
Italy . He later published several papers on the
land snails he had collected in the Solomon Islands.
[1]
In 1946, he married botanist and schoolteacher
Miriam Matthews , and they had four daughters together.
[1] His wife continued working after their marriage and became a well-known women's advocate.
[2]
After the war, Dell was offered a job as malacologist at the
Dominion Museum , 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 , with a pioneering thesis on
cephalopods ,
octopuses and
squid .
[1]
His breakthrough came with the
1954 Chatham Islands expedition . The results were published in 1956 as The Archibenthal Mollusca of New Zealand , which was a major contribution to the knowledge of
molluscan fauna in the
bathyal zone of New Zealand waters. This publication earned him a Doctorate in Science in 1956.
[1]
Soon after, Dell started to work on
Antarctic collections, with among others
Alan Beu and
Winston Ponder . In 1964, he published a major
monograph on the Antarctic
bivalves ,
chitons and
scaphopods .
[1]
In 1965 Dell was a participant in the
Royal Society Expedition to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate .
[3]
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 . 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 (marine, terrestrial and freshwater),
crabs and
birds . He also made a major contribution to the Antarctic
biogeography .
[1]
Honours and awards
In the
1981 New Year Honours , Dell was appointed a
Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.
[4] In 1977, he was awarded the
Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal , and in 1990 he received the
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal .
[5] 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 in 1965, both awarded by the
Royal Society of New Zealand .
[5] He has named many new species of molluscs and several new
crustaceans .
[1]
Death
Dell died in 2002, after a long illness, in
Wellington . He was survived by his wife, Dame Miriam Dell, and their four daughters.
[1]
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
Mollusca and some in the
Crustacea , he has also established a number of new genera :
Alertalex 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) [originally 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. Dell
[6]
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
[7]
Gasparia delli (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
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i Beu, Alan; Marshall, Bruce; Pondor, Winston (2003).
"Richard Kenneth ('Dick') Dell, 1920-2002: obituary, bibliography and a list of his taxa" (PDF) . Molluscan Research . 23 (1): 85–99.
doi :
10.1071/MR02013 . Retrieved 15 December 2020 .
^ Graham-McLay, Charlotte (19 September 2018).
"Suffrage 125: Three generations of feminists" . Radio New Zealand . Retrieved 14 November 2020 .
^
"Solomons Research Begins" . The Press . Vol. CIV, no. 30797. 8 July 1965. p. 15. Retrieved 14 April 2024 .
^
"No. 48469" .
The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1980. p. 40.
^
a
b
Taylor, Alister ;
Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand . Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 120.
ISBN
0-908578-34-2 .
^
WoRMS: Species with epithet delli
^
Ponder, W. F. (1965).
"The Family Eatoniellidae in New Zealand" .
Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum . 6 : 47–99.
ISSN
0067-0464 .
JSTOR
42906115 .
Wikidata
Q58676802 .
Sources
Tucker, J.K. 2004 Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda) . Zootaxa 682:1-1295
External links
Recipients of the
Hector Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand
International National Academics Artists Other