Andrew Rodger Waterston

Dr Andrew Rodger Waterston OBE FRSE FRES (born Ollaberry, 30 March 1912, died Edinburgh, 12 July 1996) was a Scottish zoologist, specialising in malacology and entomology. He was interested in the insect fauna of the Middle East and in the fauna of the Outer Hebrides. He was generally known as Rodger Waterston. Early life and pre war career Rodger Waterston was born in the manse on 30 March 1912 in Ollaberry on mainland Shetland, where his father, the entomologist James Waterson, was a minister in the United Free Church at the time. When his father was appointed as an entomologist at the Imperial Bureau of Entomology in 1917 the family moved to London. In London, Rodger attended St Paul's School. Through his father he came to know many of the respected entomologists of that time, whilst he developed his own interests in entomology and acquired the field skills which were to serve him in his career. He returned to Scotland, where he studied Zoology at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a First Class Honours BSc degree in 1934. His undergraduate thesis was entitled "On some points in the anatomy, histology and relationships of a new British slug (genus Limax)", about a greenhouse alien now named in his honour Ambigolimax waterstoni. He participated in the Edinburgh University Biological Society expedition to survey and record the fauna and flora of Barra in 1935. In 1938 he married Marie Elizabeth Campbell, whom he had studied alongside. They had a daughter, Susan. In 1935 he took a position as an Assistant Keeper of the invertebrate collections at the Royal Museum of Scotland, giving up his postgraduate studies. He was a specialist in entomology, but his interests and expertise were wider, and he had already published papers on molluscs and other invertebrates. Although he became more specialised as an entomologist as his career progressed, he maintained an interest in a broader range of insects and continued to publish papers on other zoological groups. In 1938, he became the Conchological Society's Recorder for non-marine Mollusca, although his efforts to update the Society's records were interrupted by his war service.