Thomas Barbour

Thomas Barbour ( born August 19, 1884 on Martha 's Vineyard; † January 8, 1946 in Boston ) was an American herpetologist.

Life and work

Barbour was the eldest of four sons of Colonel William Barbour and his wife Julia Adelaide Sprague. Barbour's father was the founder and president of the Linen Thread Company, Inc., a successful Garnmanufaktur which had several offices in the U.S., Ireland and Scotland. Thomas Barbour grew up in Monmouth County in New Jersey, where one of his younger brothers, William Warren Barbour, a political career and was struck from 1931 to 1937 and a second time from 1938 to 1943 U.S. Senator. At the age of 15 years, Thomas Barbour first visited the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, where he later studied under Alexander Agassiz, the son of Louis Agassiz, Zoology. According to his statements to the Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts ( 1908) and Ph.D. (1911 ), he joined the staff at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, where he took over as the successor of Samuel Garman, the curator position in the Department of reptiles and amphibians. Eventually, he became a professor of zoology and director of the Museum 1927-1946 as director. Although he devoted most of his research, amphibians and reptiles, he also studied birds and insects, especially butterflies.

Barbour's scientific expeditions have taken him to Africa, Asia, North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Especially impressed he was by the countries of Panama, Costa Rica and Cuba, which he visited at least 30 times from 1908. From 1927 until his death in 1946 he was manager of the Harvard Botanical Gardens ( Jardin Botanico de Cienfuegos today ) in Cuba. In his 1945 published book A Naturalist in Cuba Barbour not only described the flora and fauna of the country, but also its culture. Further works are Naturalist at Large (1943 ), That Vanishing Eden (1944 ) and A Naturalist's Scrapbook ( 1946). In addition, he has published around 400 scientific articles. 1906 Barbour married Rosamond Pierce. From this marriage six children and eleven grandchildren were born. Barbour suffered long from heart problems and died after a short illness in 1946.

To Barbour's original descriptions (which were written, among others, in cooperation with Gladwyn Kingsley Noble, Outram Bangs and James Lee Peters) include in addition to numerous species of amphibians and Reptilientaxa the Zapataralle that Zapataammer Cuba and the wren.

After Barbour named taxa

Among the taxa are named after Barbour Barbourisia rufa, Ambystoma barbouri, the Barbour frogs, Platypelis barbouri, Eunectes barbouri and Cerrophidion barbouri.