Geo&Bio (Jun 2023)
Mykola Diukov, a zoologist and collector, researcher of the fauna of Slobozhanshchyna and Dagestan
Abstract
Mykola Diukov was a zoologist whose professional achievements are related to the study and monitoring of populations of game mammals and birds, as well as agricultural pests including rodents and insects (especially locusts). Mykola Diukov was born in Kharkiv in 1896, and the first now known event from his life is connected with Lithuania (then part of Poland) in 1913, where he collected and prepared a museum specimen of the mountain hare (Lepus timidus). The researcher worked in Kharkiv (known dates 1921–1923), later in Makhachkala (1924–1931), after which he served in exile in Kazakhstan (1932–1936). In Kharkiv, his research was related to the central (Kharkiv) branch of the Ukrainian Association of Hunters and Fishermen (All-Ukrainian Society of Hunters and Fishermen), one of his first works was devoted to assessing the state of wolf populations based on a wide survey of hunting centres conducted. In different periods of his work, the researcher showed interest not only in studying species, but also in creating collections, engaged in taxidermy and neatly made out label data. In total, 23 specimens of mammals (bats, mustelids, and rodents) collected and prepared by Mykola Diukov were found in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine and the Museum of Nature of V. Karazin Kharkiv University, but this number may be at least twice as high if we take into account that some of the materials were signed with the names of his colleagues or were not signed, but were made by his hand. In addition to the main series, a series of mammal specimens from Dagestan, collected by Diukov or with Diukov’s participation, was discovered in the collection of the Department of Zoology of the National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine, including those of Spermophilus musicus, Mesocricetus raddei, Pygeretmus pumilio, Mus musculus, Mustela eversmanni, Mustela nivalis,and Barbastella leucomelas. In total, 58 specimens of 18 species, belonging to 11 families and 5 orders, are present in the studied collections that are part of Mykola Diukov’s materials (or clearly related to him). The researcher worked with such famous researchers as V. Averin, O. Formozov, V. Heptner, O. Mygulin, and others. There is no information about the life (and death) of the researcher after 1936. The author assumes that M. Diukov was oppressed because of his (probably noble) past and, after five years of imprisonment in concentration camps, received a death sentence against the background of widespread repressions in 1937.
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