Richard Dell Explained

Birth Name:Richard Kenneth Dell
Birth Date:11 July 1920
Birth Place:Auckland, New Zealand
Death Place:Wellington, New Zealand
Children:4
Fields:Malacology
Workplaces:Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Alma Mater:Victoria University College
Known For:Work on molluscs of the Chatham Islands and the Antarctic

Richard Kenneth Dell (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] Dell was one of the zoologists studying invertebrates on the 1949 New Zealand American Fiordland Expedition.

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. In 1977, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[4] 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.[4] 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 :
Other publications:

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 :

Taxa named in honour of R.K. Dell[5]

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Beu . Alan . Marshall . Bruce . Pondor . Winston . Richard Kenneth ('Dick') Dell, 1920-2002: obituary, bibliography and a list of his taxa . Molluscan Research . 2003 . 23 . 1 . 85–99 . 10.1071/MR02013 . 15 December 2020. free .
  2. News: Graham-McLay . Charlotte . Suffrage 125: Three generations of feminists . 14 November 2020 . Radio New Zealand . 19 September 2018.
  3. News: 8 July 1965 . Solomons Research Begins . 14 April 2024 . The Press . 15 . CIV . 30797.
  4. Book: Taylor . Alister . Coddington . Deborah . Alister Taylor . Deborah Coddington . Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand . 1994 . New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa . Auckland . 0-908578-34-2 . 120.
  5. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=452719 WoRMS: Species with epithet delli

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