Horton Holcombe Hobbs Jr. (March 29, 1914 – March 22, 1994) was an American taxonomist and

carcinologist A carcinologist is a scientist who studies crustaceans or is otherwise involved in carcinology Carcinology is a branch of zoology that consists of the study of crustaceans, a group of arthropods that includes lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, ...

, specialising in

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

decapods. He was also a capable artist, musician, cook and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. Hobbs was born in

Alachua County, Florida Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...

, on March 29, 1914. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida, where he taught until 1946, when he moved to the University of Virginia, becoming director of the Mountain Lake Biological Station for four years. In 1957, he moved to the United States National Museum to be the Head Curator of the Department of Zoology, and two years later was made Senior Scientist in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, a position he held until his retirement in 1984. Hobbs described a total of 286 species (including 168

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

species and 104 entocytherid ostracods), 38 genera and subgenera (29 for crayfish, 8 entocytherids and ''

Neopalaemon ''Neopalaemon'' is a genus of shrimps belonging to the family Palaemonidae Palaemonidae is a family of shrimp in the order Decapoda. Many species are carnivores that eat small invertebrates, and can be found in any aquatic habitat except the d ...

'', a

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

), and one new family, Cambaridae. His work massively increased the knowledge of crayfish biology, and he authored or co-authored over 40% of the recognized species of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n crayfish. Horton has thus been referred to as "Old Man Crawfish" amongst his colleagues for his decades of research. Hobbs died on March 22, 1994, of

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

References

External links

Oral history interview with Horton H. Hobbs, Jr. 1976
from the Smithsonian Institution Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Horton H. Jr. American carcinologists American taxonomists 1914 births 1994 deaths Smithsonian Institution people University of Florida alumni University of Florida faculty University of Virginia faculty People from Alachua County, Florida 20th-century American zoologists