William George Howes (4 December 1879 – 20 February 1946) was a New Zealand entomologist and businessman.
Early life
Howes was born in 1879 at Southbridge. He was one of five surviving children of Cecilia Brown and William Howes, a post office clerk and accountant from England. His elder sister Edith, who would become a writer and educationalist, was born in 1872 before the family migrated to New Zealand.
Career
Howes authored scientific papers on entomology, concentrating on New Zealand Lepidoptera, and described numerous species new to science. The species Molophilus howesi was named in his honour.
Howes was a member of a number of organisations including the Royal Entomological Society, Linnean Society of London, American Entomological Society, the Otago Chamber of Commerce, New Zealand Institute, Otago Acclimatisation Society where he sat on the council, and the Dunedin Naturalists Field Club for which he was president for many years. For a quarter of a century, Howes was one of the directors of the Portobello Marine Biological Station.
