# Perry O. Simons > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Perry_O._Simons > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Perry_O._Simons.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_O._Simons > Source revision: 1353882702 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American scientific collector}} '''Perry Oveitt Simons''' (October 6, 1869 – 1901) was an American [scientific collector](/source/scientific_collection). He predominantly worked in the [Neotropics](/source/Neotropics). ==Early life and education== Simons was born on October 6, 1869, in [Mineral Point, Wisconsin](/source/Mineral_Point%2C_Wisconsin), the son of Luther B. Simons (1836–1917) and Laura Simona (née Hollingsworth, later Harreld, 1851–1931).{{cite news |title=End to a Pioneer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-parsons-sun-laura-hollingsworth-harr/191489037/ |work=The Parsons Sun |date=June 15, 1931 |location=Parsons, KS |page=1 |access-date=February 17, 2026 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Open access}}{{cite news |title=Mother of Joplin Woman Dies at Oswego |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/joplin-globe-laura-hollingsworth-harreld/191489143/ |work=Joplin Globe |date=June 14, 1931 |location=Joplin, MO |page=5 |access-date=February 17, 2026 |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Open access}} In 1886 he left Wisconsin for [Riverside, California](/source/Riverside%2C_California), where he graduated from [Riverside High School](/source/Riverside_Polytechnic_High_School) in 1893. He spent four years at [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) as an electrical engineering major. While at Stanford, he assisted William W. Price with a scientific collecting expedition near [Lake Tahoe, California](/source/Lake_Tahoe) in the summer of 1896 https://www.jstor.org/stable/4068881. He collected bird and mammal specimens that were deposited in a number of museums around the United States, including the [Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology](/source/Museum_of_Comparative_Zoology), [American Museum of Natural History](/source/American_Museum_of_Natural_History), and the [California Academy of Sciences](/source/California_Academy_of_Sciences). https://www.vertnet.org/occurrence/search?q=PO+Simons&eventDate=1890-01-01%2C1896-09-01&country=US&stateProvince=California ==Career== Later, he accompanied William W. Price as a scientific collector in Mexico from 1896 to 1897. He was joined by his brother, Luther. The mammal specimens collected on this 10-month expedition were purchased by the [British Museum](/source/Natural_History_Museum%2C_London). British Museum zoologist [Oldfield Thomas](/source/Oldfield_Thomas) was so pleased by the quality of the specimens, he offered Simons a job collecting additional specimens in South America. Luther accompanied Perry for the first two years of the expedition before sailing back to San Francisco. ==Death== While crossing the Argentinean [Andes](/source/Andes) around the end of December 1901,{{cite journal|journal=The Auk| year=1903| volume=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vmxu_CzeCxMC&pg=PA96| pages=94–96|title=Notes and News}} Simons was murdered by his guide.{{cite book|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo|last2=Watkins|first2=Michael|last3=Grayson|first3=Michael|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4214-0227-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0F758vNQ0UUC&pg=PT244|access-date=10 June 2019|page=244}} The guide struck him in the back of the head before driving a spike through his forehead. His body was found, and it was buried nearby. The motive was said to be robbery, and the guide was captured and imprisoned in [Mendoza, Argentina](/source/Mendoza%2C_Argentina). After Simons's death, Oldfield Thomas called him "the most successful mammal collector that I have ever had to deal with", noting, "we shall not easily find his like again".{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00222930208678580|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2M9MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA237|title = XL.—On mammals collected at Cruz del Eje, Central Cordova, by Mr. P. O. Simons|journal = Annals and Magazine of Natural History|volume = 9|issue = 52|pages = 237–245|year = 1902|last1 = Thomas|first1 = Oldfield}} ==Namesake species== Several species were named after Simons: '''Reptiles''': *Simons's whorltail iguana (''[Stenocercus simonsii](/source/Stenocercus_simonsii))'' *Simons's green racer (''[Philodryas simonsi](/source/Philodryas_simonsi))'' *Simons's sun tegu (''[Euspondylus simonsii](/source/Euspondylus_simonsii))'' '''Amphibians''':{{cite book|author1=Bo Beolens|author2=Michael Watkins|author3=Michael Grayson|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJY3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA198|date=22 April 2013|publisher=Pelagic Publishing|isbn=978-1-907807-44-2|page=198}} *Paramo robber frog (''[Pristimantis simonsii](/source/Pristimantis_simonsii))'' *Sucre water frog (''[Telmatobius simonsi](/source/Telmatobius_simonsi))'' '''Birds''':{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=En4wBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1172|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Birds|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo|last2=Watkins|first2=Michael|last3=Grayson|first3=Michael|date=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781472905741|language=English|page=1172}} *[Puna tapaculo](/source/Puna_tapaculo) (''Scytalopus simonsi)'' '''Mammals''': *[Simons's spiny rat](/source/Simons's_spiny_rat) (''Proechimys simonsi)''{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00222930008678378|title=XXXVII.—Descriptions of new Rodents from Western South America|journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History|volume=6|issue=33|pages=294–302|year=1900|last1=Thomas|first1=Oldfield|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2188735}} '''Fish''': *''[Astroblepus simonsii](/source/Astroblepus_simonsii)'' {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1904.tb00040.x|title=III. A Monograph of the Fishes of the Family Loricariidae|journal=The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London|volume=17|issue=3|page=317|year=1904|last1=Regan|first1=C. Tate|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13673180}} Another species of reptile in the genus ''[Liolaemus](/source/Liolaemus)'' was named ''L. simonsi'' after him, though it was found to be a synonym of ''L. ornatus''. The [mountain degu](/source/mountain_degu) was also named after him by Oldfield Thomas in 1902, as ''Neoctodon simonsi'',{{cite journal | journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London | title=On Two new Genera of Rodents from the Highlands of Bolivia | volume=1902 | pages=114-117 | first=O. |last=Thomas |author-link=Oldfield Thomas |publisher=Academic Press, [etc.] | date= 1902 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/118624 |via=[Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library)}} but the name was later found to be invalid.{{Cite journal|journal=[Annals and Magazine of Natural History](/source/Annals_and_Magazine_of_Natural_History) |title=On small mammals collected in Jujuy by Señor E. Budin |pages=136-143 |date=1913 |volume=11 |location=London |publisher=Taylor and Francis|first=O. |last=Thomas |author-link=Oldfield Thomas |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18635704#page/155/mode/1up |via=[Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library)}} ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Perry}} Category:1869 births Category:1901 deaths Category:American collectors Category:People from Mineral Point, Wisconsin Category:American people murdered abroad Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Zoological collectors Category:People murdered in Argentina {{authority control}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Perry O. Simons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_O._Simons) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_O._Simons?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.