Arthur Dendy

Arthur Dendy (20 January 1865, in Manchester – 24 March 1925, in London) was an English zoologist known for his work on marine sponges and the terrestrial invertebrates of Victoria, Australia, notably including the "living fossil" Peripatus. He was in turn professor of zoology in New Zealand, in South Africa and finally at King's College London. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Family life

Dendy's parents were John Dendy, a silk fabric maker of Manchester, and Sarah Beard, daughter of John Relly Beard. His sisters included Mary Dendy and Helen Bosanquet. He married Ada Margaret Courtauld on 5 December 1888. They had four children, three daughters—including the artist Vera Ellen Poole (1890–1965)—and one son. While in New Zealand, Dendy coined the term "cryptozoic fauna" to refer to animals which live in environments like leaf litter, under rocks, and so on.

In 1903, he became professor of biology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In 1905, he became professor of zoology at King's College, London.

Honours and distinctions

Dendy contributed articles including "Sponges" to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica under the initials "A. DE."

He served as president of the Quekett Microscopical Club from 1912 to 1916.

His name is honoured in the genus name Arthurdendyus Jones, 1999; Arthurdendyus triangulatus is the New Zealand flatworm, an invasive species in the United Kingdom.

His name is honoured in the genus name Dendya Bidder, 1898, a genus of Calcarea (Porifera). Still in this group of Porifera, the genus name Arturia Azevedo, Padua, Moraes, Rossi, Muricy & Klautau, 2017 was also named in his honour.

Works

Dendy, Arthur, and Ridley, Stuart O. (1886) On Proteleia sollasi, a new genus and species of monaxonid sponges allied to Polymastia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (5) 18: 152–159.