Wroughton, Robert Charles

Robert Charles Wroughton was an officer in the Indian Forest Service from 1871 to 1904. He was a member of the Bombay Natural History Society and was interested in Hymenoptera, particularly ants and then later took an interest in scorpions due to his interaction with Reginald Innes Pocock.

His major work was on the mammals of India and after his retirement in 1904, became a regular worker at the Natural History Museum in London. He initially took an interest in African mammals and there was little material from India. He persuaded his friends in India to collect specimens and this led to a collaborative mammal survey in 1911. 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 and the information was published in 47 papers.

Numerous species are named after him, including Wroughton's Free-tailed Bat and many ant species (Aenictus wroughtonii, Camponotus wroughtonii, Cardiocondyla wroughtonii, Carebara wroughtonii, Chronoxenus wroughtonii, Crematogaster wroughtonii, Hypoponera confinis wroughtonii, Lepisiota rothneyi wroughtonii, Monomorium wroughtoni, Monomorium wroughtonianum, Pheidole wroughtonii, Platythrea wroughtonii, Polyrhachis wroughtonii, Rhoptromyrmex wroughtonii, Tapinoma wroughtonii, Temnothorax wroughtonii)