Averil Margaret Lysaght

Averil Margaret Lysaght (14 April 1905 – 21 August 1981) was a New Zealand biologist, science historian and artist, best known for her scholarly work on Joseph Banks.

Early life Lysaght was born in Mokoia, Taranaki, New Zealand on 14 April 1905 to Emily Muriel Lysaght (née Stowe) and Brian Cuthbert Lysaght. Her maternal grandparents were Jane Stowe and Leonard Stowe. When she was 15 she discovered on Mount Taranaki an owlet moth previously unknown to science. That species was described in 1921 by entomologist G. V. Hudson and named Graphania averilla in her honour.

Education Lysaght was initially educated at home by a governess but was sent to Chilton House Private Girls Boarding School in Wellington when she was 12. While studying for her bachelor's degree Lysaght published her first papers on entomology. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1928 and obtained a master's degree in Science in 1929. Her thesis was on the biology of Eucolaspis, a genus of beetle.

Painting 'Lysaght was a talented artist, a gift that apparently first developed at Nottingham and later at Saint Martin's School of Art in London.' A solo exhibition of her work was held at the Leicester Galleries, in October 1961. Most of her water-colour paintings were on 'Siamese paper made from the fibres of the daphne bush'. Lysaght's October 1961 show of water-colours (no. 1222) coincided with ones the Leicester Galleries held for Kyffin Williams (no. 1223) and Anne Madden (no. 1221), whose work was influenced by Sam Francis, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and by her husband Louis le Brocquy, as too it seems was Lysaght's, notably Riopelle.

Death Lysaght died on the 21 August 1981 in London.

Specimens collected Porina oreas Leuconopsis obsoleta Pisidium novaezelandiae Potamopyrgus antipodarum

Published works The Book of Birds - Five Centuries of Bird Illustration Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador 1776

Recognition and awards The moth species Graphania averilla was named in her honour.