Johannes Bastiaan Corporaal (23 April 1880 – 28 May 1952) was a Dutch entomologist who specialised in
Coleoptera. Corporaal was considered a world authority on the beetle family
Cleridae.[1]
Biography
Corporaal was born at
The Hague on 23 April 1880.[2][3] His parents were an Official, Gerard Cornelis Corporaal (also known as Cornelis Gerardus Korporaal) and Anna Corporaal (née van Hunsel), who were married on 21 June 1877.[3][4]
Corporaal's early education was at the Technische Hogeschool in
Delft; he then moved to
Wageningen for studies at the National Agricultural School, hoping to go on to work in
Indonesia (then the
Dutch East Indies).[2] He received his Agricultural diploma on 5 July 1902.[2]
In 1903 Corporaal traveled to Indonesia, where he worked first at Java and then at Sumatra[2] as an assistant tobacco planter[3] at plantations belonging to the company Senembah Maatschappij.[2] From 1912 Corporaal was Manager of a tea and rubber plantation in Java.[3] Corporaal's work involved using his agricultural and entomological training to try to combat crop pests, and he studied beetles in his spare time.[2]
In April–June 1915 Corporaal collected several weevils from the family
Anthribidae which he sent for identification to
Karl Jordan at the
Tring Museum in Hertfordshire, U.K.[5]
Corporaal suffered from a period of ill-health circa 1915 which caused him to return to the Netherlands where he met his future wife, Annie van Rienderhoff.[2] They were married at
Penang. Malaysia on 22 August 1917.[3] Corporaal had a five-year contract to work as an entomologist at the Dutch rubber-planter research station near Medan, Sumatra [
Algemeene Vereeniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra (A.V.R.O.S.)].[2][3] After Corporaal's contract ended in 1921 he and Annie returned to the Netherlands, settling in Amsterdam, where Corporaal took a job as an entomological curator at the
Amsterdam Zoological Museum.[2]
Corporaal built up a personal collection of Cleridae specimens during his career which contained 1200 different types and forms, with around 17,000 specimens in total.[2] After his death these were donated to the Amsterdam Zoological Museum.[2]
Select publications
Corporaal, J.B. "Notes systématiques et synonymiques sur les Clérides (2me communication sur les Clérides)", Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, volume 67, pages 195-196 (1924)[7]
Corporaal, J.B.: "Remarks on some South African Cleridae in the British Museum (7th communication on Cleridae)", Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, volume 69, pages 318-319 (1926)[8]
Corporaal, J.B.: "Further notes on Cleridae. (11th communication on Cleridae)", Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, volume 76, pages 155-188 (1933)[9]
Corporaal, J.B.: "Notes on some Cleridae in the Hamburg Zoological Museum (21st Communication on Cleridae)", Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, volume 84, pages 359-361 (1941)[10]
^
abcdefWorld Biography: Who's Important in Every Field [entry for Corporaal, Johannes Bastiaan]. Vol. 1. Institute for Research in Biography. 1947. p. 947.