William Joseph Rainbow (1856–1919) was an entomologist and arachnologist whose work includes the first catalogue of Australian spiders.

Life

Rainbow was born in 1856 in

Yorkshire, England Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. His father was a

Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mo ...

in the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry and also one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighti ...

, so his education was in a number of port towns and in Edinburgh. He emigrated to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

in 1873, where he wrote for John Ballance's ''Wanganui Herald''. Rainbow's early interest in natural history was assisted by Ballance, who prompted him to build a career in the field. In 1883 he moved to

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

and married Arriette Dainty. He continued to contribute to newspapers and journals, including ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', ''Daily Telegraph'', and Evening News, then worked for the Government Printing Office until 1895; in this year he took up a position at the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

as an

entomologist 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 ara ...

. Rainbow was a founder of the Naturalists' Society of New South Wales, serving as its president. He was a member of the

Linnean Society of New South Wales The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884. History The Society succe ...

and Council of the

Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (RZSNSW) was formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1879 as the New South Wales Zoological Society. A Royal Charter was granted in September, 1908, leading to a change to the current name ...

. He was made a fellow of the Entomological Society of London and

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature coll ...

, and a member of the

Société Entomologique de France The Société entomologique de France, or French Entomological Society, is devoted to the study of insects. The society was founded in 1832 in Paris, France. The society was created by eighteen Parisian entomologists on January 31, 1832. The fi ...

. He died in Sydney on 21 November 1919, having suffered several tragic losses. His second son, Sergeant Oscar A. Rainbow, was killed in World War I, an event that seems to have precipitated the death of Arriette in 1917. His eldest son was William A. Rainbow, a librarian at the Australian Museum. Rainbow's death was a few days before his youngest, Eric, also a Sergeant, returned from active service.

Works

During the period from 1893 until his death, he described around 200 species of spiders, and wrote 71 papers, around 50 of these on the subject of

arachnology Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of ...

. His catalogue of Australian orb-weaver spiders, ''A Census of Australian Araneidae'', listing 1102 species, was produced in 1911; it is noted as a significant advancement in the much ignored

spiders of Australia Australia has a number of highly venomous spiders, including the Sydney funnel-web spider, its relatives in the family Hexathelidae, and the redback spider, whose bites can be extremely painful and have historically been linked with deaths in me ...

. His works included papers on the spiders found in all the Australian states and the Pacific region. He also wrote two guide books, ''A guide to the study of Australian butterflies'' (T.C. Lothian, Melbourne, 1907) and ''Mosquitoes; their Habits and Distribution''. He left an incomplete manuscript, "Spiders from Molangul, S.E. Queensland" that was accompanied by his sketches. His collection of specimens is maintained by the Australian Museum; this includes a collection of Australian

Acari Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

, mites and ticks, whose study was begun by Rainbow. The species ''

Trittame rainbowi ''Trittame rainbowi'' is a species of mygalomorph spider in the Barychelidae family. It is endemic to Australia. It was described in 1994 by Australian arachnologist Robert Raven. The specific epithet ''rainbowi'' honours William Joseph Rainbo ...

'' commemorates this author's contribution to the field of Australian arachnids. The author citation Rainbow refers to this entomologist and arachnologist when citing a

biological classification In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are give ...

References

External links

*
Rainbow bibliography
in Musgrave, 1920, Rec. Aust. Mus. 13(3): 87–92 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rainbow, William Joseph 1856 births 1919 deaths Zoologists with author abbreviations Australian entomologists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Australian arachnologists Scientists from Yorkshire