19 March, 2010

Robert W. Mitchell - RIP

I'm sorry to announce the recent death of the cave biologist and invertebrate zoologist Robert W. Mitchell (1933-2010). Dr. Mitchell has a very long and impressive list of publications, but for us scorpion people he is especially known for his work on troglobitic and troglomorphic scorpions.

Scorpion taxa described by Dr. Mitchell:

Typhlochactas Mitchell, 1971
T. reddelli Mitchell, 1968
T. rhodesi Mitchell, 1968
Sotanochactas elliotti (Mitchell, 1971)

Typhlochactas mitchelli Sissom, 1988 was named in honor of Dr. Mitchell.

In the early days of The Scorpion Files (2001-2002), Dr. Mitchell contacted me and sent me several pictures of some of "his" troglobitic scorpions to be used in The Scorpion Files. This was a great gesture, as these scorpions are among the rarest scorpions in the world, and I'm very grateful for his contribution!

RIP!

The Scorpion Files Gallery

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That was my father and I was very proud of him. Miss him every day. Rest in peace dad.
Scott Mitchell