Robert Charles Wroughton (15 August 1849, Naseerabad

Naseerabad (Balochistan)

Nasirabad is small town located in Naseerabad District in the Pakistani province of Balochistan....

-15 August 1921) was an officer in the Indian Forest Service

Indian Forest Service

The Indian Forest Service is the Forestry service of India. It is one of the three All India Services of the Indian government, along with the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service; its employees are recruited by the national government but serve under the state governments or...

 from 10 December 1871 to 1904.

He was a member of the Bombay Natural History Society

Bombay Natural History Society

The Bombay Natural History Society, founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. It supports many research efforts through grants, and publishes the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Many...

 (BNHS) and was interested in Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...

, particularly ants and then later took an interest in scorpion

Scorpion

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...

s due to his interaction with Reginald Innes Pocock

Reginald Innes Pocock

Reginald Innes Pocock F.R.S. was a British zoologist.Pocock was born in Clifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev. Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history at St. Edward's School, Oxford. He received tutoring in zoology from Sir Edward Poulton, and was allowed...

.

His major work was however on the mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s of India and after his retirement in 1904, became a regular worker at the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He initially took an interest in African mammals and there was little material from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He persuaded his friends in India to collect specimens and this led to a collaborative mammal survey in 1911. Interest in small mammals was also raised by work on plague particularly due to the work of Captain Glen Liston who delivered a special address to the members of the BNHS. Collectors for the small mammal survey included C. A. Crump (Khandesh, Darjeeling), Sir Ernest Hotson (Baluchistan), R. Shunkara Narayan Pillay (Travancore), J. M. D. Mackenzie (Burma), Captain Philip Gosse (Poona, Nilgiris), S. H. Prater (Satara), Charles McCann

Charles McCann

Yule Mervyn Charles McCann was a naturalist in India. He wrote several a popular book on the trees of India and edited a major regional flora apart from publishing many of his other observations, mainly in the journal of the Bombay Natural History Society that he was associated with.He was born...

 and others and the survey went on until 1923. It is believed to be the first collaborative biodiversity study in the world. The project accumulated 50,000 specimens over 12 years, especially of the smaller mammals and the information was published in 47 papers. Wroughton was also helped by his brother-in-law T. B. Fry who continued to work after his death in 1921. Several new species were discovered in the process.

Several species are named after him including

• Wroughton's Free-tailed Bat (Otomops wroughtoni)

Publications

1. Wroughton R C 1912a. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 1. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(2):392-410.
2. Wroughton R C 1912b. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 2. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(3):820-825.
3. Wroughton R C 1912c. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 3. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(3):826-844.
4. Wroughton R C 1912d. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 4. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(3):844-851.
5. Wroughton R C 1912e. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 5. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21(4):1170-1195.
6. Wroughton R C and K V Ryley 1913a. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 6. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22(1): 29-44.
7. Wroughton R C and K V Ryley 1913b. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 7. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22(1): 45-47.
8. Wroughton R C and K V Ryley 1913c. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 8. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 22(1): 58-66.
9. Wroughton R C. 1913. Scientific results from the mammal survey # III. J. Bombay Nat. Hist Soc. 22(1): 13-21.
10. Wroughton R C 1914. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 15. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(2):282-301.
11. Wroughton R C 1915a. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 16. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(3):413-416.
12. Wroughton R C 1915b. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 17. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 23(4):695-720.
13. Wroughton R C. 1915c. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XI. J. Bombay Nat. Hist Soc. 24(1): 29-65.
14. Wroughton R C 1915d. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 18. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(1):79-96.
15. Wroughton R C 1915e. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 19. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(1):96-110.
16. Wroughton R C 1916a. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 20. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(2):291-309.
17. Wroughton R C 1916b. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India:Report 21. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(2):309-310.
18. Wroughton R C 1916c. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India:Report 22. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(2):311-316.
19. Wroughton R C 1916d. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India:Report 23. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(3):468-493.
20. Wroughton R C 1916e. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 24. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(4):749-758.
21. Wroughton R C 1916f. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India:Report 25. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(4):758-773.
22. Wroughton R C 1916g. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 26. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24(4):773-782.
23. Wroughton R C. 1917a. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XV. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.. 25(1): 40-51
24. Wroughton R C 1917b. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 27. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(1):63-71.
25. Wroughton R C 1917c. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 28. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(2):274-278.
26. Wroughton R C. 1918a. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XVII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.. 25(3): 361.
27. Wroughton R C 1918b. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society , Part I. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 25(4): 547-598.
28. Wroughton R C 1918c. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society , Part II. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 26(1): 19-58.
29. Wroughton R C 1919. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society , Part III. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 26(2): 338-378.
30. Wroughton R C 1920a. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society , Part VI. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(1): 57-85.
31. Wroughton R C 1920b. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society , PartVII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(2): 301-313.
32. Wroughton R C 1920c. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 32.J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(2):314-322.
33. Wroughton R C 1921a. Summary of the results from the Indian mammal survey of Bombay natural History Society ,Appendix. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):520-534.
34. Wroughton R C 1921b. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 33. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):545-549.
35. Wroughton R C 1921c. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 34. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):549-553.
36. Wroughton R C 1921d. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India: Report 35. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 27(3):553-554.
37. Wroughton R C. 1921e. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XXVI. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.. 27(3): 599-601.
38. Wroughton R C. 1921f. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XXVIII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.. 27(4): 773-777.
39. Wroughton R C. 1921g. Scientific results from the mammal survey # XXIX. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.. 28(1): 23-25