John S. Clark
In 1919, Clark worked as the assistant to the entomologist on probation in the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, but in 1920, he took on this position full-time.
He started to publish his first articles about pest insects and ants from 1921; in 1926 he became an entomologist at the National Museum in Melbourne, remaining there for 20 years.
[1][2][3] At an early age, Clark had an interest in entomology throughout his years in Glasgow and adult life in Australia.
[2] Clark migrated to Australia in 1905 with little formal education but found himself working for the state railways in Queensland.
He began publishing his first papers discussing the history of entomology in Western Australia in 1921, and also basic articles about ants, insect pests in Australian forests and myrmecophilous beetles.
[1] Scientists attending the 1926 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science suggested that Clark should apply for a position as "entomologist" at the National Museum of Victoria, in which he was appointed in late 1926 and began working there in 1927.
A couple of years later in 1939, he married his second wife, Phyllis Marjorie Claringbull, at the Office of the Government Statist, bearing two more daughters.
[1] Clark's intemperate attitude to his peers and superiors and lack of qualifications bedevilled his career, although he was welcoming to amateurs.
[5][6] He did so because the two specimens (which then became the syntypes) bore no resemblance to any ant species he knew of, although they did share similar morphological characteristics with the extinct genus Prionomyrmex.
[5] This unusual ant remained unknown to scientists, causing intense scientific interest in the early 1950s.
Over three decades, however, teams of Australian and American collectors failed to re-find it after they initiated a series of searches.
American entomologist William Brown Jr. notes that Clark was living the life of a "recluse" during his declining years.
She had worked with her father at the museum in 1940 and was the secretary of the virus department of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
