Roberto Donoso-Barros (October 5, 1921 – August 2, 1975) was a Chilean
zoologist,
naturalist, and
herpetologist.[1] Jaime Péfaur listed his birth year as 1922.[2]
Early life and education
Donoso-Barros was born in Santiago, Chile. He attended the University of Chile in Santiago, earning his M.D. from the school in 1947.[3]
Donoso-Barros was a prolific herpetological authority in Chile. In 1966, he published Reptiles de Chile which collected and reported on all lizard species described to date in Chile.
The gecko Gonatodes ligiae remains somewhat mysterious as it was only described in a short note in which Donoso-Barros did not explain the name, but it is probably named after some person, as many other species he described. However, the ominous Ligia remains a mystery.[4]
Accolades
Donoso-Barros was awarded the Abate Molina Prize by the Chilean Academy of Sciences in 1966.[1] He was also awarded the
Atenea Award in 1966 for Reptiles de Chile.[5]
Donoso-Barros had five daughters and two sons. However, in his obituary, Jaime Péfaur only mentions 6 children, namely Constanza, Roberto, Paulina, Marcela, Valeria and Cecilia.[2] Péfaur did not mention his son Alvaro, after which Donoso-Barros named one species, Pristidactylus alvaroi,[7] as he dedicated names to all his other children (except Roberto), namely
Gonatodes ceciliae, named for his daughter Cecilia[6]
Liolaemus paulinae, named for his daughter Pauline[6]
Pristidactylus valeriae, named for his daughter Valeria[6]
Liolaemus constanzae, named for his daughter Constanza[6]
Pristidactylus alvaroi, named for his son Álvaro[6]
Bachia marcelae, named for his daughter Marcela.[8]
Donoso-Barros is the grandfather of
Gaspar Domínguez Donoso (son of his daughter Valeria)[9] and of Chilean-British herpetologist Daniel Pincheira-Donoso.
Donoso-Barros died on August 2, 1975, as a result of a traffic accident.[1]
^Donoso-Barros, Roberto (1967). "Diagnosis de dos nuevas especies del género Gonatodes de Venezuela". Noticiario Mensual del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago (Chile). 11 (129): 4 – via Reptile Database.
^
abcdefBeolens, Bo;
Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.
ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pristidactylus alvaroi, p. 7; Gonatodes ceciliae, p. 50; Liolaemus constanzae, p. 58; Liolaemus donosobarrosi, p. 74; Liolaemus paulinae, p. 202; Pristidactylus valeriae, p. 271).
^Donoso-Barros, R. (1974). "Nuevos reptiles y anfibios de Chile". Bol. Soc. Biol. Concepcion [published in 1975]. 48: 217–229.
^Donoso-Barros, R.; A. Garrido, R. (1964). "Nuevo Teiidae de Venezuela, Bachia marcelae, nov. sp". Publ. Ocas. Mus. Cienc. Nat. Caracas. 8: 1–7.