Oldfield Thomas

Oldfield Thomas

Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. He helped scientists learn more about animals, especially mammals.

Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum in London. There, he described and named many new species. His work showed how many different kinds of life exist on Earth.

Thomas liked to study how mammals are grouped. He looked at their looks and habits to put them in the right families and groups. This helped make modern mammal grouping better.

During his career, Thomas wrote many papers and books. He described over 2,000 new species. Some of these animals are still famous today. His careful work is still useful for biologists and zoologists.

Career

Oldfield Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum studying mammals. He described about 2,000 new species and subspecies there. He joined the museum in 1876 and moved to the zoological department in 1878.

In 1891, he married Mary Kane, the daughter of Sir Andrew Clark. Her family’s money helped him hire people to collect items for the museum. He traveled to Western Europe and South America to collect specimens, often with his wife. Even after retiring in 1923, he kept working on his projects until he died in 1929.

Taxonomic descriptions

Oldfield Thomas was a British zoologist. He described many groups of animals. He worked on families and genera. He named many species of bats, rats, and other small mammals. His work helped scientists understand and classify these animals better.

Some of the groups he described include families like Deomyinae and genera such as Aethalops and Aethomys, along with many specific species like the Admiralty flying fox and the Asian particolored bat.