Vives, E.

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

Miscel.lania Zoologica 23.1 (2000) 
- - 
101 
In Memoriam: 
Joan Vives i Duran (1918-2000) 
E. Vives 
On 15 November 2000, the Catalan 
entomologist Joan Vives i Duran died in his 
hometown of Terrassa. He leaves behind him 
his extensive work on entomology and 
hundreds of entomologist friends in many 
countries throughout the world. 
Joan was born into a family of bakers in 
Terrassa on 6 November 1918. He was the 
second of four children and his love for 
nature became evident even as a small child. 
His father Manuel Vives i Casanovas was a 
baker like his father before him, who owned 
an old bakery founded in 1893. Joan's mother 
was Carme Duran i Martí. Joan's admiration 
for the beauties of nature and art bloomed 
early and, by the time he was twelve, he was 
collecting small animals and plants, which he 
kept in terrariums he made out of tin and 
glass. He was also an avid collector of 
postcards and photographs of Classical art. 
He soon focused his studies on insects 
and began a collection in 1932 that was 
sadly lo& during the difficult years of the 
Spanish Civil War. In 1936 he published his 
first entomological works and began 
specializing in Coleoptera. This specialization 
led to his meeting the Terrassa entomologist 
Professor Eugeni Ferrer i Dalmau (1871- 
1934), who transmitted his own interest in 
Ciclindelidae to  Joan, especially his interest 
in Carabidae. 
Joan Vives studied at the "Col.legi dels 
Pares Escolapis" (Piarist Fathers School) in 
Terrassa and when he was 16 he enrolled in 
the "Escola Municipal d'Arts i Oficis" 
(Municipal School of Arts and Crafts), where 
he focused on Textile Studies and Fine Arts 
under the guidance of his teacher, Joan Rigol 
Fornaguera, who taught him how to draw 
and make models. 
In 1933 Joan made contact with a group 
of naturalists at the "Centre Excursionista de 
Terrassa" (Excursionists' Center of Terrassa), 
where he met the Terrassa arachnologist 
Domenech Ventalló and his long-time 
excursion companion Joan Galí, with whom 
he embarked on a number of entomological 
campaigns. In 1935 he met Professor Francesc 
Español i Coll, who encouraged him to 
attend the meetings at the "Museu dlHistoria 
Natural de Barcelona" (Barcelona Museum 
of Natural History) (now the Zoology 
Museum) and transmitted his entomological 
wisdom to the young adolescent in such a 
way that Joan can be considered Español's 
first and most loyal follower. He learned al1 
the good things that such a wise profesor 
can teach, especially how to be rigorous 
about his work methodology, the need to 
be careful when describing new taxons and, 
even more particularly, how to  provide 
friendly instruction to  the young enthusiasts 
who visited the Barcelona Museum. In those 
years he met R. Zariquiey, J. M. Mas de 
Xaxars, R. Jeannel and M. Antoine during 
the period they were at the Museum. It was 
also there that he met the entomologist 
Joaquím Mateu, whose friendship, based on 
the study of ground beetles, would last his 
whole life. 
By the time Joan finished secondary 
school, the Spanish Civil War had broken 
out. He was drafted in 1938 and sent to  the 
front in Lleida. In 1939 he begun his military 
service in a punishment detachment in 
Barbate (Cádiz). Joan took advantage of 
those two years to collect insects in cigarette 
boxes, which he sent to his family in Terrassa. 
During that period, he also met his good 
friend José Ramírez, from the nearby town 
Joan Vives with Francesc Español in the library of the Zoology Museum of Barcelona, 
summer 1988. 
of San Roque. Their friendship and exchange 
of insects would last their whole lives and 
allowed Joan to become very familiar with 
Andalusian coleopterological fauna. 
Joan moved back to Terrassa in 1942 and 
started working as head dyer at the " Manu- 
factura Textil de Terrassa" (Manufactura Textil 
company in Terrassa). He worked there until 
1948, when he married Maria Teresa Noguera 
i Barceló. But his enthusiasm for beetles 
continued to grow, as did the number of 
children the couple had (5). After his first 
collection was lost, he started a second one 
and acquired a great deal of material through 
his extensive network of correspondents 
throughout Spain who he equipped with 
insect specimen bottles. His frequent business 
trips for the family business allowed him to 
carry out campaigns to collect insects on the 
lberian peninsula and in the Canary Islands. 
He made many exchanges and personal 
campaigns with his indescribable companion 
and Curculionidae specialist Manolo González 
(1931-1972), with whom he gathered beetles 
in the most interesting and least explored 
biotopes on the Peninsula. Joan constantly 
received specimens from his nearly a hundred 
correspondents, and in just a few years he 
had compiled the largest private collection 
of lberian beetles in Spain, with more than 
four hundred thousand specimens in 1965, 
most of which were studied and classified by 
the leading specialists of the time. 
In this way, he made contact and 
established a long-lasting entomological 
relationship with specialists such as: S. von 
Breuning, L. Straneo, M. Burlini, J. Negre, A. 
Pardo Alcaide, L. Baguena, A. Cobos, G. 
Zaballos, J. C. Jeanne, G. Pecoud, J. Becchyne, 
J. Baraud, P. Bonnadona, H. Coiffait, P. 
Raynaud, C. Besuchet, E. Rivalier, A. Evers, 
H. Franz, F. Hieke, H. Sawada, R. Darlington 
Miscel.lania Zooloqica 23.1.(2000) 
Jr., F. Cassola, T. Ueno, Z. Kaszab, K. Mandl, 
W. Witrner, P. Basilewsky and rnany more. 
He learned sornething new frorn each one 
and had solid friendships with al1 of thern. 
In 1958 he published his first work on 
Carabidae, an article that provided a review 
of Spanish Styracoderus. He would continue 
producing publications on beetles until his 
death. Starting in 1976, he published his 
"Notassobre Carabidae" with his son Eduard, 
also an entornologist. He produced a total 
of 32 articles, rnainly on Carabidae and other 
Coleoptera. This is the bibliographical legacy 
he has left us, and it includes sorne irnportant 
studies, such as his article on the lberian 
halophilic Carabidae, and especially his study 
of the fauna of the Aragon region of Los 
Monegros, a place that always fascinated 
hirn. In fact, one of his last rnonographs was 
his Catálogo de los Coleoptera: Carabidae 
de Aragón. At the time of his death, he was 
working on five different articles with 
descriptions of various new specirnens. These 
articles will be published in the near future. 
Because of his discrete and simple way of 
working with entornology, Joan Vives was 
always an enerny o f  distinctions and 
protocol. In time, this characteristic earned 
hirn recognition as a wise and welcorning 
teacher who was always ready to  study his 
colleagues' material or provide encourage- 
rnent to  the young enthusiasts that constant- 
ly visited hirn at horne t o  consult his 
enorrnous collection. This contact allowed 
hirn to  collaborate on rnany doctoral theses 
of the then young Spanish carabidologists. 
It is also very cornrnon to  find Carabidae 
classified by J. Vives in Spanish collections 
and in rnany Spanish and European rnu- 
seurns. Until his death, he was a regular 
collaborator with the Zoology Museurn of 
Barcelona, where he ordered and cornpleted 
the Carabidae collection, which had been 
darnaged extensively during the Civil War. 
Also noteworthy was his activity as collabora- 
ting entornologist at the Departrnent of 
Animal Biology o f  the  University o f  
Barcelona's Faculty of  Biology where he 
participated in carnpaigns and in the study 
of the departrnent's material. He also 
participated as associate entornologist in 
various entornological campaigns for the 
lberian Fauna Project, where he worked on 
Chrysornelidae and Cerarnbycidae. 
Joan Vives classifying Carabidae in the 
laboratory of his studio, March 1989. 
As a result of his good relations with his 
entomological colleagues, 38 species and 
subspecies of Carabidae, Staphylinidae, 
Scarabaeidae, Meloidae, Malachiidae, Tene- 
brionidae, Cerarnbycidae, Chrysomelidae and 
Curculionidae were narned after hirn in the 
forrn of vivesi or durani. 
Joan was a rnember of rnost of the lberian 
entornological associations and held the title 
of Honorary Mernber in sorne of thern. He 
was a rnernber of the Executive Cornmittee 
of the European Association of Coleopterol- 
ogy and a rnernber of the advisory board of 
the journal L'Entomologiste (Paris). In 1981 
he was distinguished by his hornetown as 
"Terrassenc de I'Any" (Terrassa Resident of 
the Year) in recognition of his extensive work 
on entornology. He regularly attended rnost 
entomological conferences held in Catalonia 
and was an assiduous participant at the 
Entornological Conferences of the " Institució 
104
Catalana d'Història Natural" (Catalan Institute
of Natural History) and a number of national
and international conferences, the last being
the one held in Zaragoza in July 2000.
But Joan Vives' most outstanding feature
was always the warmth and friendliness with
which he treated everyone who caure to
consult him. Without boasting about his
erudition and profound knowledge of
biology and the systematics of Coleoptera,
especially the Carabidae, he knew how to
deal with all the consultations that arrived
regularly from all parts of Europe, either in
person or by letter. His file of entomological
correspondence started in 1944 contains more
than 9,600 letters and handwritten doc-
uments in nine different languages. He
replied to every letter and opened every
package sent to him for consultation.
Joan has left us forever, but we stil I have
the memory of a warm man, his publications,
his entomological library with more than
6,000 titles and his collection of Coleoptera,
with more than a million specimens prepared
and studied and millions more on file. He
also leaves us his permanent smile, which he
wore even in the most difficult moments
during the months after the death of his
wife in 1999. He continued to visit the
Zoology Museum until twelve days before
his death, dealing with even the slightest
consultation with his customary affable
affection.
In short, Spanish entomology has lost a
great entomologist, and Spanish entomol-
ogists have lost a great friend.
Published works
1936. Apunts d'Entomologia. El Grill
(Gryllus campestris). Bol. Grup. Excurs. La
Mola, Terrasssa, 50: 6.
1937. Apunts d'Entomología. La Saturnia
pyri Schiff. Bol. Grup. Excurs. La Mola,
Terrassa, 55: 17
1958. Los Styracoderus ibéricos. Misc.
Zoo/.,1(5): 38-42.
- 1965. Caraboidea de la Província de Càdiz.
Misc. Zool., 2(1): 63-77.
- 1967. Los Acinopus ibéricos (Col., Harpa-
lidae). Misc. Zoo/., 2(2): 53-66.
- 1968. Nota adicional al estudio de los
Acinopus ibéricos. (Col., Harpalidae). Misc.
Zool., 2(3): 59.
- 1971. Un nuevo Leiocnemis ibérico. (Col.,
Pterostichidae). Misc. Zool., 3(1): 45-47.
- 1975. Dos nuevos caràbidos ibéricos.
Graellsia, 31: 137-141. [ln coll. with E.
Vives].
- 1976. Caraboidea de la província de
Càdiz. 2nd note. Misc. Zool., 3(5): 109-119.
[ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1978. Coleópteros halófilos de Los
Monegros. Asoc. Esp. Entom., 2: 205-214.
[ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1978. Caràbidos nuevos o interesantes
para la península Ibérica. Misc. Zool., 4(2):
165-176. [ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1979. Sobre la peculiar distribución de
algunos coleópteros caràbidos de la zona
murciano-alicantina. 2 a Jornada Asoc. Esp.
Entomol., Murcia: 8-9. [ln coll. with E.
Vives].
- 1981. Caràbidos nuevos o interesantes para
la Península Ibérica. (Col., Carabidae). 2nd
note. Miscl. Zoo/., 7(2): 93-98. [ln coll.
with E. Vives].
- 1982. A propòsit d'alguns coleòpters
caràbids de les zones salades espanyoles.
Sessió Conjunta ICHN-SCL, Barcelona
(1981), 2: 49-55. [ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1982. Notas sobre Sphodrini espaholes
nuevos o poco conocidos. Nouv. Rev.
Entom., 12(1): 29-36. [In coll. with E. Vives].
- 1984. Caràbidos nuevos o interesantes para
la Península Ibérica. 3 rd note. Rembus
(Isorembus) aegyptiacus (Col., Carabidae).
Bol. Asoc. Esp. Entomol., 9: 123-125. [ln
coll. with E. Vives].
- 1986. Caràbidos de la Laguna de Sarifiena
(Huesca). Col. Estud. Altoarag., 6: 127-135.
[ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1986. Coleòpters del Montseny (Carabidae
i Cerambycidae). In: El patrimoni biològic
del Montseny. Catàleg de flora i fauna:
143-149. Diputació Barcelona, Servei de
Parcs, Barcelona.
- 1987. Les poblacions relictes de coleòpters
vallesans, singulars indicadors biogeo-
gràfics. l a Jornada Natur. Vallès, 2: 88-99.
[ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1987. La fauna cavernícola de Sant
Llorenç del Munt i de la Serra de l'Obac.
1 0 Trobada estudiosos del massís de Sant
Llorenç: 57-59. Ed. Diputació de Barcelona.
[ln coll. with E. Vives].
- 1989. Notas sobre Caràbidos Ibéricos (Col.,
Miscel.lania Zoologica 23.1 (2000) 105 
Carabidae). Ist note. Nouv. Rev. Ent., (N.S.) 
6(1): 93-97. [In coll. wi th E. Vives]. 
- 1991. Los Cicindelidae Ibéricos, visión 
faunística (Col., Cicindelidae). Elytron, 5(1): 
221-224. [In coll. w i th  E. Vives]. 
- 1994. Notes sobre carabids (Coleoptera) 
de Catalunya. lst note. Sessió Conjunta 
Entomol. ICHN-SCL, Barcelona (1 993), 8: 
29-36. [In coll. w i t h  E. Vives]. 
- 1994. Nuevos carábidos (Coleoptera) de 
las Islas Baleares. 2nd note on lberian 
Carabidae. B o t  Soc. Hist. Nat. Balears, 37: 
181-186. [In coll. w i t h  E. Vives]. 
- 1995. Obra taxonómica del Dr. Francesc 
Español. Treballs de l  Museu de Zoologia 
de Barcelona, 7: 1-110. [In coll. wi th A. 
Viñolas and 0 .  Escola]. 
- 1997. Notes sobre carabids. Carabids nous 
per a Catalunya i les llles Balears (Coleo- 
ptera, Carabidae). 2nd note. loa Sessió 
Conjunta Entomol. ICHN-SCL. Barcelona 
(in press). [In coll. wi th E. Vives]. 
- 1998. Catálogo de los Coleópteros Cara- 
bidae de Aragón. In: Catalogus, Insecta, 
Coleoptera, Fam. 36, Carabidae. 
- 1999. Singularidad de los coleópteros de 
Los Monegros. In: Manifiesto Científico 
p o r  Los Monegros. Bol. 5oc. Aragón. 
Entom., 24: 165. [In coll. w i th  E. Vives]. 
(in press). Teloclerus compressicornis (Klug, 
1842), nou clerid per a la fauna catalana 
(Coleoptera: Cleridae). 1 l a  Sessió Con- 
junta Entom. ICHN-SCL, Barcelona. [In coll. 
w i th  E. Vives]. 
(in press). Estudio de la actividad de una 
población de Abax pyrenaeus (Coleop- 
tera, Carabidae) en un bosque medite- 
rráneo. Elytron. [In coll. w i th  A. Serral. 
2001. Dos nuevas especies de Anillini 
cavernícolas pertenecientes al género 
Speleotyphlus Jeanne, 1973 (Coleoptera, 
Carabidae). Misc. Zool. (publication in 
progress) [In coll. with E. Vives and 0. Escola]. 
2001. Patrobus teresae Vives-Vives sp. 
nov., y presencia de la t r ibu Patrobiini en 
la península Ibérica. 3rd note on lberian 
Carabidae (publication in  progress). [In 
coll. wi th E. Vives] 
2001. Revisión del género Leiocnemis 
Jeannel (Col., Carabidae). 4" nota sobre 
carábidos ibéricos (publication in progress). 
[In coll. w i th  E. Vives]. 
Eduard Vives 
Collaborator, Zoology Museum 
Barcelona, December 2000 


In memoriam: Joan Vives i Duran (1918-2000)

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