New Zealand entomologist
Charles Edwin Clarke (1885 – 17 September 1952) was a New Zealand dentist and amateur entomologist, who specialised in collecting lepidoptera and coleoptera.
Biography.
Clarke was born in 1885. in Dunedin. Clarke worked as a dentist as a profession, and collected specimens as a hobby. Most of Clarke's specimens were collected between the 1910s and 1940s, and Clarke published findings in the "Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand" between 1920 and 1934.
In 1915, a moth specimen collected by Clarke from Flagstaff Hill, Dunedin was used by George Howes to describe the moth species "Hydriomena clarkei", which Howes named after Clarke.
Clarke discovered and identified numerous moth species between 1920 and 1936, including "Ericodesma cuneata", "Heterocrossa sanctimonea" and "Asterivora urbana". Clarke's specimens were also used by New Zealand entomologists to describe new species, including Edward Meyrick in 1924 describing "Atomotricha prospiciens", George Hudson to describe "Asaphodes glaciata" in 1925, and by entomologist Alfred Philpott, who described "Proteodes clarkei" in 1926, naming the species after Clarke. 
In 1929, Clarke donated much of his insect collection to Auckland War Memorial Museum. Using Clarke's collections, Philpott described numerous moth species, including "Archyala culta", "Orocrambus clarkei", "Paramorpha marginata" and "Zapyrastra stellata".
Clarke died on 17 September 1952. After his death, Clarke's collection of beetles was acquired by Auckland War Memorial Museum and the British Museum.
Over 5,500 specimens by Clarke are found in the collections of Auckland War Memorial Museum. In addition to these, Clarke's specimens are found in the Otago Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the British Museum.
Personal life.
Clarke was a close friend of New Zealand coleopterist Ernest Richard Fairburn.
References.
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