Fred Wanless Explained

Fred R. Wanless (194015 December 2017) was a British arachnologist.[1] Active in the field especially in the seventies and eighties of the 20th century, he described several dozen taxa, in particular among the spiders of the Salticidae family.[2] Wanless played a significant role in the British Arachnological Society being its member in 1969–1973, 1974–1976 and 1986–1989, and Meetings Secretary in 1973–1978. From 1973 to 1988 he described 137 new species and 13 new genera.

Career

He worked at the Natural History Museum in London,[3] dealing with the arachnid collections and at the Australian Museum in Brisbane. At the Museum Wanless developed interest in African jumping spiders while editing Doug Clark’s notes and later working on their collaborative paper. During his work at the Museum he published a number of academic papers and supervised the studies of post-graduate students.[4]

Wanless played a significant role in the British Arachnological Society being its member in 1969–1973, 1974–1976 and 1986–1989, and Meetings Secretary in 1973–1978. From 1973 to 1988 Wanless described 137 new species and 13 new genera. Among them only nine species (7%) have been later synonymized, while all his genera and the subfamily Spartaeinae remain valid.

Wanless traveled extensively as part of his research working notably in Borneo and Botswana. In 1977, he joined the Royal Geographical Society’s expedition to Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak where he collected and described local species.[5] Wanless retired from the National History Museum in 2003, however he continued studying grasses and sedges publishing a guide on them in 2013. Upon retirement, Wanless became increasingly involved in the work of the Wren Group and the Lakehouse Lake project being a member of its committee.

Fred R. Wanless died on 15 December 2017.

Taxa described

Named in his honor

Studies and research on Salticidae

References

  1. Russell-Smith. Tony . March 2018. Fred Wanless 1940–2017. Arachnology. 17. 7 . 358–360. 10.13156/arac.2017.17.7.358. 198160053 .
  2. Maddison. Wayne P.. 2015. A phylogenetic classification of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology. 43. 3. 231–292. 10.1636/arac-43-03-231-292. 85680279. 2020-08-29. 2016-03-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20160315022053/http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v43_n3/arac-43-03-231.pdf. dead.
  3. Parker. J. R.. July 1981. The Centenary of the British Museum (Natural History) and its Arachnida Collections. British Arachnological Society Newsletter. 10.1.1.716.5794.
  4. Web site: 2017. Fred Wanless. 2020-08-31. Wildlife and Conservation Group.
  5. Web site: Gunung Mulu Expedition Sarawak, Malaysia 1977-1978. 2020-08-31. Royal Geographical Society.
  6. Web site: Wijesinghe. D.P.. 2012-02-05. A New Genus of Jumping Spider from Borneo with notes on the Spartaeine Palp. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20120205021615/http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/40/40rbz009-019.pdf. 2012-02-05. 2020-08-29.
  7. http://wiki.britishspiders.org.uk/index.php5?title=Publications/The_Bulletin Official publication of the British Arachnological Society
  8. henceforth abbreviated to Bull. Br. Arachnol. Soc.
  9. Book: British Museum (Natural History). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). 1980. London : BM(NH). London Natural History Museum Library.
  10. henceforth abbreviated to Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. (Zool.)
  11. http://salticidae.org/salticid/catalog/1-ref-t.htm List of Fred Wanless's Jumping Studies

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