Charles Edwin Clarke

Charles Edwin Clarke (1885 – 17 September 1952) was a New Zealand dentist and amateur entomologist, who specialised in collecting lepidoptera and coleoptera.

Biography


Clarke was born in 1885. in Dunedin. Clarke worked as a dentist as a profession, and collected specimens as a hobby. Most of Clarke's specimens were collected between the 1910s and 1940s, and Clarke published findings in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand between 1920 and 1934.

In 1915, a moth specimen collected by Clarke from Flagstaff Hill, Dunedin was used by George Howes to describe the moth species Hydriomena clarkei, which Howes named after Clarke.

Clarke discovered and identified numerous moth species between 1920 and 1936, including Ericodesma cuneata, Heterocrossa sanctimonea and Asterivora urbana. Clarke's specimens were also used by New Zealand entomologists to describe new species, including Edward Meyrick in 1924 describing Atomotricha prospiciens, George Hudson to describe Asaphodes glaciata in 1925, and by entomologist Alfred Philpott, who described Proteodes clarkei in 1926, naming the species after Clarke.

In 1929, Clarke donated much of his insect collection to Auckland War Memorial Museum. Using Clarke's collections, Philpott described numerous moth species, including Archyala culta, Orocrambus clarkei, Paramorpha marginata and Zapyrastra stellata.

Clarke died on 17 September 1952. After his death, Clarke's collection of beetles was acquired by Auckland War Memorial Museum and the British Museum.

Over 5,500 specimens by Clarke are found in the collections of Auckland War Memorial Museum. In addition to these, Clarke's specimens are found in the Otago Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the British Museum.

Personal life
Clarke was a close friend of New Zealand coleopterist Ernest Richard Fairburn.

Taxa named by Clarke



 * Asaphodes citroena (1934)
 * Asaphodes ida (1926)
 * Asterivora chatuidea] (1926)
 * Asterivora urbana (1926)
 * Ericodesma cuneata (1926)
 * Glyphipterix scintilla (1926)
 * Heterocrossa sanctimonea (1926)
 * Kiwaia calaspidea (1934)
 * Mallobathra abyssina (1934)
 * Mallobathra cataclysma (1934)
 * Mallobathra memotuina (1934)
 * Rhathamictis nocturna (1926)
 * Sabatinca lucilia (1920)
 * Scoparia sylvestris (1926)
 * Scoparia tuicana (1926)
 * Tatosoma monoviridisata (1920)
 * Tinea aetherea (1926)