Ruggero Verity or Roger Verity (20 May 1883 – 4 March 1959) was an Anglo- Italian

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 arach ...

who specialised in

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and a physician.

Life

Roger Verity was born in Florence on 20 May 1883, the elder son of Richard Henry Manners Verity (1844–1926) and his wife Matilda daughter of Cav. Sebastiano Fenzi and Emily Verity.*Verity Family Records at Glamorgan Archives D/DXcb and DXBT Roger Verity married, on 1 June 1922, Donna Giulia dei Principi Gallarati–Scotti (20 November 1887 – 17 June 1938) daughter of Don Gian Carlo, Prince di Molfetta, Duca di San Pietro in Galatina, and Luigia Melzi D'Eril dei Duchi di Lodi. Roger Verity was a lepidopterist and the author of over 150 papers and books including ''Rhopalocera Palaeartica. Papilionidae and Pieridae'' (1905–1911, 454 pages), ''Le Farfalle diurne d’Italia'' (Butterflies of Italy (volumes, 1940–1953, 1688 pages) and ''Les variations géographiques et saisonnières des Papillons diurnes en France'' (Geographic and seasonal variation of the butterflies of France) (three volumes, 476 pages). He was responsible for the naming of two to three thousand butterflies, his collection of close to 250,000 butterflies many purchased from the dealerships "Staudinger Bang-Haas" and Orazio Querci together with his library is now in La Specola museum in Florence. He lived in Florence and at "Cicaleto" (Villa Verity) at Caldine, He died 4 March 1959 and is buried at Sofiana. There is a memorial in the family chapel at Cicaleto. Roger Verity created the term "

exerges In biology, a cline (from the Greek κλίνειν ''klinein'', meaning "to lean") is a measurable gradient in a single character (or biological trait) of a species across its geographical range. First coined by Julian Huxley in 1938, the "cha ...

", writing: " xergesalways inhabit different land-areas, except in particular cases, such as large mountain chains and plains, which afford very different surroundings and climates within the same area; they often consist in a long chain of races stretching even from one continent to another ..." The modern term is cline.

Sources

*Cesare Conci et Roberto Poggi (1996), ''Iconography of Italian Entomologists, With Essential Biographical Data''. Memorie della Società entomologica Italiana, 75: 159–382

References

*Barsanti, G. and Chelazzi G ''Il Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Firenze'', Volume 1 Firenze University Press Electronic Version at Google Books. Portrait. *Otakar Kudrna, 1983 An annotated catalogue of the butterflies named by Roger Verity. ''The Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera''. 21 (1982): 1–10

*Otakar Kudrna and E. Balletto, 1984 An annotated catalogue of the skippers named by Roger Verity. ''The Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera''. 23: 35–49

External links

Lepidopterology Gallery
Portrait
Il Museo di storia naturale dell'Università degli studi di Firenze
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verity, Ruggero 1883 births 1959 deaths Physicians from Florence Italian lepidopterists 20th-century Italian zoologists Scientists from Florence