Dr Andrew Rodger Waterston OBE FRSE FRES (born Ollaberry, 30 March 1912, died Edinburgh, 12 July 1996) was a Scottish zoologist, specialising in malacology and entomology. He was interested in the insect fauna of the Middle East and in the fauna of the Outer Hebrides. He was generally known as Rodger Waterston.

Early life and pre war career

Rodger Waterston was born in the manse on 30 March 1912 in Ollaberry on mainland Shetland, where his father, the entomologist James Waterson, was a minister in the United Free Church at the time.

When his father was appointed as an entomologist at the Imperial Bureau of Entomology in 1917 the family moved to London. In London, Rodger attended St Paul's School. Through his father he came to know many of the respected entomologists of that time, whilst he developed his own interests in entomology and acquired the field skills which were to serve him in his career. He returned to Scotland, where he studied Zoology at the University of Edinburgh,[1] graduating with a First Class Honours BSc degree in 1934. His undergraduate thesis was entitled "On some points in the anatomy, histology and relationships of a new British slug (genus Limax)", about a greenhouse alien now named in his honour Ambigolimax waterstoni.[2][3] He participated in the Edinburgh University Biological Society expedition to survey and record the fauna and flora of Barra in 1935. In 1938 he married Marie Elizabeth Campbell, whom he had studied alongside.[1] They had a daughter, Susan.[2]

In 1935 he took a position as an Assistant Keeper of the invertebrate collections at the Royal Museum of Scotland, giving up his postgraduate studies. He was a specialist in entomology, but his interests and expertise were wider, and he had already published papers on molluscs and other invertebrates. Although he became more specialised as an entomologist as his career progressed, he maintained an interest in a broader range of insects and continued to publish papers on other zoological groups.[1] In 1938, he became the Conchological Society's Recorder for non-marine Mollusca, although his efforts to update the Society's records were interrupted by his war service.[2]

Second World War and the Middle East

When the Second World War broke out in 1939 he was seconded to the Ministry of War Transport as District Transport Officer for Clydeside, based in Paisley, where he was able to spend some of his spare time examining and rearranging the important entomological collection left to the Paisley Museum by the pioneering Scottish entomologist Morris Young.[4] In 1942 he joined the Royal Scots, with which he served for a year before being transferred to the Colonial Office, where he was appointed to the Middle East Supply Centre in Cairo; his role there was Locust Officer in the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit, and he took charge of the Palestine Anti-Locust Unit in Saudi Arabia. After the war ended, Waterston remained with the Colonial Office and travelled widely in the Middle East, northern Africa, and India constructing a framework for monitoring and controlling the locust. In 1947 he was appointed Chief Locust Officer responsible for locust monitoring and control in the Middle East, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. He was Entomological Advisor to the British Middle East Office and Attaché for Scientific Affairs at the British Embassies in Cairo and Beirut. Waterston conducted research in the Middle East, but he mainly worked to establish technical cooperation and coordination for controlling the desert locust under challenging international conditions. In 1952 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire in recognition of this work.[5][1]

Later Career and Retirement

He returned to Scotland in 1952, working from the Royal Scottish Museum, where he was appointed Keeper of Natural History in 1958. He retired from that post in 1973 but was retained as an Emeritus Researcher until 1978. Under Waterston the museum's collections were increased and developed, with Waterston often using his contacts in the Middle East to add to the collections. Prior to the war his specialism was in the Hemiptera and Hymenoptera but in response to the bequest of the collection of Kenneth Morton he switched to Neuroptera and Odonata, publishing papers on the dragonflies of the Middle East, especially after he retired. He also published important papers on the fauna and ecology of the Outer Hebrides, an interest that was sparked on the 1935 Expedition.[1]

In 1946 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Alexander Charles Stephen, Sir William Wright Smith, James Ritchie and D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson.[6] In 1982, he was awarded the Society's Neill Prize Medal in recognition of his contribution to the natural history of the Hebrides and to Scottish entomology.[2] Waterston co-edited the "Scottish Naturalist" from just before the war and again from 1983, where he set editorial standards, and he advised Curwen Press and then Harley Books, helping them to achieve exceptional standards in their entomological publications. He was one of the founders of the Scottish Natural History Library, and was instrumental in it acquiring the library of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh and the natural history holdings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[1] He was also, like his father, a curator at the Department of Entomology of the British Museum (Natural History).[7] He was awarded the OBE.[8] In 1952 for his work on locust control.[9]

Family

In 1938 he married Marie Elizabeth Campbell (died 2005).

Publications

The following is a list of the publications authored or co-authored by A. Rodger Waterston.[4]

The fauna (with J.E. Forrest), 260-262.
Diplopoda and Chilopoda, 271.
Thysanura and Collembola, 271-272.
Orthoptera and Dermaptera, 272.
Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera and Psocoptera, 273.
Odonata, 273-274.
Trichoptera, 277-278.
Lepidoptera (with D.C. Thomas), 278-281.
Coleoptera, 281-283.
Hymenoptera, 283-284.
Diptera, 284-286.
Arachnida (with M.l. Crichton), 286-289.
Land and freshwater Mollusca, 290-294.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "ANDREW RODGER WATERSTON OBE, BSc(Edin), FRES" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "Biography of A. Waterston". Conchology Inc. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. ^ Hutchinson, J.M.C.; Reise, H.; Schlitt, B. (30 June 2022). "Will the real Limax nyctelius please step forward: Lehmannia, Ambigolimax, or Malacolimax? No, Letourneuxia!". Archiv für Molluskenkunde. 151 (1): 19–41. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/151/019-041.
  4. ^ a b Dr Mark R Shaw; Dr J.A. Gibson (1997). "Andrew Rodger Waterston (1912-1996)". Scottish Naturalist. 109 (2): 43–50.
  5. ^ "SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 5 JUNE, 1952" (PDF). The London Gazette. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  6. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. V & W". BEMOL. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  8. ^ "A Roger Waterston". The Herald. 20 July 1996. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  9. ^ David Heppell. "Andrew Rodger Waterston, 1912-1996". The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
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