| Priscilla Hollister Starrett | |
| Birth Name: | Priscilla Latham Hollister |
| Birth Date: | November 13, 1929 |
| Birth Place: | East Hartford, Connecticut |
| Death Date: | October 8, 1997 |
| Death Place: | Inglewood, California |
| Burial Place: | Hockanum Cemetery, East Hartford |
| Nationality: | American |
| Alma Mater: | University of Connecticut, University of Michigan |
| Occupation: | Herpetologist |
| Spouse: | Andrew Starrett |
| Children: | David, Laurel, Bruce |
| Mother: | Imogene Wadsworth |
| Father: | George Hollister |
Priscilla Latham Hollister Starrett (November 13, 1929 – October 8, 1997) was an American herpetologist who researched anuran (frog) morphology, systematics and behavior.[1]
Born in East Hartford, Connecticut, to George Hollister and Imogene Wadsworth,[2] she was known to friends as "Holly Starrett." She gained her B.A. and M.S. degrees from the University of Connecticut, earning the latter in 1951. She married Andrew Starrett in 1951 and moved to Los Angeles in 1964. She enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan in 1954 and, after time devoted to field work in Central America, was finally awarded the degree in 1969 with her dissertation titled "The phylogenetic significance of the jaw musculature in anuran amphibians.[3]
Starrett studied Central American frogs extensively, spending significant time in the field in Costa Rica in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She had a special interest in centrolenids (glass frogs) and hylids (tree frogs), with their taxonomy becoming the topic of several journal papers.According to Emerson, who described Starrett's research, in the area of morphology, "her dissertation work was an important impetus leading to aspects of jaw musculature becoming standard characters in anuran systematic studies," In the area of tadpole development, "she studied muscle homologies, and proposed four basic tadpole types suggesting that larval characters could be important in studying the relationships among major groups on anurans.... She further suggested that the variation that she found in the jaw muscles and other internal morphology among tadpole types could be related to their feeding ecology."Starrett is commemorated in the names of Hyalinobatrachium vireovittatum (common name: Starrett's glass frog), a species in the family Centrolenidae, as well as the species of frog Isthmohyla tica, also known as Starrett's treefrog, in the family Hylidae.
In addition to her research, Starrett held faculty positions at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles from 1969 until she retired in 1992.
Starrett was a vocal advocate of environmental awareness. She died October 8, 1997, in Inglewood, California and is buried in Hockanum Cemetery, East Hartford, Connecticut.