Richard B. Dominick

Last updated
Richard Bayard Dominick
Born(1919-09-17)September 17, 1919
DiedMay 4, 1976(1976-05-04) (aged 56)
Resting place Wedge Plantation
Alma mater Yale University
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Occupation Ophthalmologist
Employer Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital
Known for Lepidoptery
SpouseTatiana Djeneeff
Awards Air Medal, Purple Heart

Richard Bayard Dominick (September 17, 1919 - May 4, 1976) was an American ophthalmologist, outdoorsman, and amateur lepidopterist. He is best known for his extensive collection of moths and butterflies in South Carolina. He established the Wedge Entomology Research Foundation for the publication of a series of monographs entitled the Moths of America North of Mexico. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

He was born at the family plantation Gregorie Neck [3] on the Coosawhatchie River in Jasper County, South Carolina. As a youth, he collected moths and butterflies in the area. [1] [2]

He attended Yale University as a member of Davenport College and was on the Yale college crew. He began to study premedical courses to become a physician. [1] [2]

In 1941, his life changed dramatically. The death of his father led to the sale of the family plantation. His early moth collection was donated to the American Museum of Natural History. He joined the Marine Corps as an aviator. During the war he flew a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber in the Pacific. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. [1] [2]

After the war, he resumed his studies. He earned his medical degree at Columbia University. He did a surgical residency at Roosevelt Hospital and practiced at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. [1] [2]

Outside of his practice, he became an honorary life member of the Peabody Associates and the Explorers Club. He was a scoutmaster of a Boy Scout troop in Far Rockaway, New York for four years. [1] [2]

Lepidoptery

On a visit to South Carolina, he rediscovered his boyhood interest in moths and butterflies. Looking at Alexander Barrett Klots' Field Guide to the Butterfly, he recognized specimens that he had collected as a youth. [1] [2]

He and his wife Tatiana purchased the Wedge Plantation near McClellanville, South Carolina. He dedicated himself to collecting and studying moths and butterflies. He built a laboratory with large "bug trap" for the collection of moths. He developed photographic techniques to record his specimens. He discovered new species including Dasychira dominickaria . [1]

During this ten-year period, Dominick collected over 25,000 moths and 1,000 butterflies on the plantation. The Richard B. Dominick Moth and Butterfly Collection with over 1,100 species resides in the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. [4] [5]

Richard Dominick established the Wedge Entomological Research Foundation for the publication of a series of monographs entitled the Moths of North America North of Mexico. [1] [2]

He was a named a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entomology</span> Scientific study of insects

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term insect was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans. This wider meaning may still be encountered in informal use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick DuCane Godman</span> English entomologist, ornithologist (1834–1919)

Frederick DuCane GodmanDCL FRS FLS FGS FRGS FES FZS MRI FRHS was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist. He was one of the twenty founding members of the British Ornithologists' Union. Along with Osbert Salvin, he is remembered for studying the fauna and flora of Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland Trimen</span> British-South African naturalist (1840-1916), best known for South African butterflies

Roland Trimen FRS was a British-South African naturalist, best known for South African Butterflies (1887–89), a collaborative work with Colonel James Henry Bowker. He was among the first entomologists to investigate mimicry and polymorphism in butterflies and their restriction to females. He also collaborated with Charles Darwin to study the pollination of Disa orchids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry John Elwes</span> English botanist and entomologist (1846–1922)

Henry John Elwes, FRS was a British botanist, entomologist, author, lepidopterist, collector and traveller who became renowned for collecting specimens of lilies during trips to the Himalaya and Korea. He was one of the first group of 60 people to receive the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897. Author of Monograph of the Genus Lilium (1880), and The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland (1906–1913) with Augustine Henry, as well as numerous articles, he left a collection of 30,000 butterfly specimens to the Natural History Museum, including 11,370 specimens of Palaearctic butterflies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James John Joicey</span> English amateur entomologist (1870–1932)

James John Joicey FES was an English amateur entomologist, who assembled an extensive collection of Lepidoptera in his private research museum, called the Hill Museum, in Witley, Surrey. His collection, 40 years in the making, was considered to have been the second largest in the world held privately and to have numbered over 1.5 million specimens. Joicey was a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Entomological Society, the Royal Horticultural Society, and the Linnean Society of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliot Pinhey</span>

Elliot Charles Gordon Pinhey was an entomologist who worked in Africa and specialised in African Lepidoptera and Odonata. Born of British parents on holiday in Belgium, Pinhey made major contributions in entomology to the knowledge of butterflies, moths and dragonflies. Elliot Pinhey's interest in natural history first developed during his early education in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard South</span> English entomologist

Richard South FRES was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera, particularly the smaller moths.

<i>Mnesictena</i> Genus of moths

Mnesictena is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae, where it is placed in the tribe Udeini. The genus was erected by the English entomologist Edward Meyrick in 1884. The currently known seven species are exclusively found on New Zealand and the associated Antipodes Islands and Chatham Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedge Plantation</span> Historic house in South Carolina, United States

The Wedge Plantation, which is also known as The Wedge or the William Lucas House, is a plantation about 5 mi (8 km) east of McClellanville in Charleston County, South Carolina. The plantation is a wedge-shaped property between the Harrietta Plantation and the Fairfield Plantation. The plantation house was built around 1830. It is located off US Highway 17 near the Santee River. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepidopterology</span> Branch of entomology that studies moths and butterflies

Lepidopterology is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the two superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian.

<i>Chedra</i> Moth genus in family Batrachedridae

Chedra is a genus of tiny moths, belonging to the family Batrachedridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Mary Bowdler Sharpe</span> English entomologist and illustrator

Emily Mary Bowdler Sharpe, was an English entomologist, colourist and illustrator.

Dioryctria rossi is a species of snout moth in the genus Dioryctria. This moth was discovered and named by Douglas Alexander Ross, chief entomologist at the Vernon forest entomology laboratory and research centre in Vernon, British Columbia, from 1950 to 1970. It was described by Eugene G. Munroe in 1959. It is found in western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern Mexico and east to New Mexico.

<i>Pasiphila bilineolata</i> Species of moth

Pasiphila bilineolata is a moth in the family Geometridae. It is endemic to New Zealand and can be found in the North and South Islands. The species inhabits native forest and shrubland and the larvae feed on Hebe species. Adults are on the wing commonly from August to January but have been observed most months of the year and are attracted to light.

Ronald William Hodges, known as Ron, was an American entomologist and lepidopterist.

<i>Euxoa inconcinna</i> Species of moth

Euxoa inconcinna is a species of cutworm or dart moth in the family Noctuidae. It is found in North America.

<i>Copablepharon robertsoni</i> Species of moth

Copablepharon robertsoni is a species of cutworm or dart moth in the family Noctuidae. It is found in North America.

<i>Xanthorhoe orophylloides</i> Species of moth endemic to New Zealand

Xanthorhoe orophylloides is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was first described by George Hudson in 1909 and is endemic to New Zealand. This species is found in the subantarctic islands including at the Auckland Islands and at Campbell Island.

Ufa is a moth genus in the subfamily Phycitinae of the family Pyralidae. The genus is distributed in the Americas. While sharing certain morphological characters in the female genitalia with Adelphia, Ufa appears closest related to Elasmopalpus.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dominick, Tatiana (January 1985). "Richard Bayward Dominick: 1919 - 1976" (PDF). Wedge Entomological Research Foundation. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dominick, Oliver S. (October 2004). "Richard Bayard Dominick, 1919-1976". Wedge Entomological Research Foundation. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
  3. "Gregorie Neck". South Carolina Plantations. SCIway.net. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
  4. "Richard B. Dominick Moth and Butterfly Collection". Archives. University of South Carolina. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  5. Sanders, Albert E. (1999). Natural History Investigations in South Carolina. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. p. 224. ISBN   1-57003-278-5.