Frederick William Styan

Frederick William Styan (1858 – 15 September 1934) was an English tea merchant who spent many years in China. During his stay he obtained numerous specimens of fauna which were donated to the British Museum (Natural History). Several species such as Styan's bulbul are named after him.

Styan was born in London to Thomas Styan (1819-1899) and Frances Sarah Lake (1823-1924). He worked as a clerk for Robert Anderson and Co. tea traders in Shanghai and Fuzhou[1] from 1895 to 1903. His father was also a naturalist and collector of bird specimens which were bequeathed to his son.[2] Along with J.D. La Touche and Charles Boughey Rickett they went on several expeditions to collect natural history specimens in China. Some were deposited in the museum in Shanghai while others were sent to the natural history museum in London.[3][4] Styan maintained a personal collection of bird skins which he once displayed at the North China Insurance Company on Hankow Road in Shanghai. He also served as an honorary curator of the Shanghai Museum.[5] He published a few notes on the birds of China.[6][7] [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Paralysis led to his leaving China and returning to England.[15] Most of his specimens found their way to the Natural History Museum collections either directly or via the collections of Styan's friend John Kershaw.[16]

Styan is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Chinese snake, Plagiopholis styani.[17]

  1. ^ The Chronicle and Directory for China, Corea, Japan, The Philippines, Cochin-China, Annam, Tonquin, Siam, Borneo, Straits Settlements, Malay States, &c. for the year 1889. Hongkong. 1889. p. 256.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Styan, Kenneth G. (1983). Genealogy Archived 2019-07-15 at the Wayback Machine. Privately Published.
  3. ^ Kinnear, N.B. (1944). "Obituaries. Mr. C.B. Rickett" (PDF). Nature. 153: 677. doi:10.1038/153677b0. S2CID 20290197.
  4. ^ Fan, Fa-ti (2009). British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire, and Cultural Encounter. Harvard University Press. p. 135.
  5. ^ Lanning, George (1911). Wild Life in China or Chats on Chinese Birds and Beasts. Shanghai: The National Review. p. xv.
  6. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "Notes on the Ornithology of China". Ibis. 36 (3): 329–337. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1894.tb03561.x.
  7. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "XVI.-On a new Species of Trochalopteron from China". Ibis. 29 (2): 166–168. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1887.tb06324.x.
  8. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "XXI.-On a Collection of Birds from Foochow". Ibis. 29 (2): 215–234. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1887.tb06329.x.
  9. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "On the Birds of the Lower Yangtse Basin.-Part I". Ibis. 33 (3): 316–359. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1891.tb08543.x.
  10. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "On the Birds of the Lower Yangtse Basin.-Part II". Ibis. 33 (4): 481–510. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1891.tb08579.x.
  11. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "On Five apparently new Species of Birds from Hainan". Ibis. 35: 54–57. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1893.tb01199.x.
  12. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "XXXIX.-On the Birds of Hainan". Ibis. 35 (3): 424–437. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1893.tb01232.x.
  13. ^ Styan, F. W. (2008). "On some Chinese Species of the Genus Alcippe". Ibis. 38 (3): 309–312. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1896.tb07063.x.
  14. ^ Winton, W. E. de; Styan, F. W. (2009). "2. On Chinese Mammals, principally from Western Sechuen". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 67 (3): 572–578. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1899.tb06875.x.
  15. ^ Couling, Samuel M.A. (2007). Encyclopaedia Sinica. Global Oriental. p. 414.
  16. ^ Steinheimer, F.D.; Easton, Emmett R.; Lewthwaite, Richard W. (2003). "Rediscovery of John Crampton W. Kershaw's birds from Macau, including his record of Small Niltava Niltava macgrigoriae". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 123 (4): 220–227.
  17. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Styan", p. 258).