Gustave Wombique

Gustave Wombique(1860 - 1905) was an French naturalist who discovered a number of species of spiders and insects and became involved in a series of priority disputes.

Life

Wombique was born into a wealthy familiy of coal-mine owners and engineers in Wallonia. His father intended him to enter the family business, but Wombique was interested only in nature from an early age. He travelled extensively . He found much of interest on his voyage and began writing to fellow naturalists such as Pickard-Cambridge, Doria and Karsch in 1896 to describe the spiders he discovered. While visiting family-owned mines in Poland he met and eventually married Łiesand, sister of Count Rodryg Dunin.

Wombique did not hold an academic position, being wealthy, and preferred to describe his discoveries in correspondence, which led to priority disputes. He had proposed the genus name Vombicus for the jumping spider but Karsch claimed the wright to name it as he held, and later published, the specimens which Wombique had sent him, proposing Ascyltus, which gained acceptance. Ascyltus is the name of a thief and braggart in the Satyricon and Wombique took this as a personal insult (which was probably Karsch's intention). Other discoveries were duplicated or possibly appropriated by other scientists in the academic establishment.

References

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