Edgar Ravenswood Waite

Edgar Ravenswood Waite (5 May 1866 – 19 January 1928) was a British/Australian zoologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and ornithologist.

Waite was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the second son of John Waite, a bank clerk, and his wife Jane, née Vause.

In the scientific discipline of herpetology he described several new species of reptiles. In 1898 Waite published Popular Account of Australian Snakes.

He was involved in several expeditions to sub-Anatarctic islands - including the 1907 Sub-Antarctic Islands Scientific Expedition, New Guinea, and the Australian interior. By the time Waite's employment ended at the Australian Museum, the collection contained 18,000 specimens. He was later the Curator of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand for eight years, before accepting the Directorship at the South Australian Museum in March 1914.

Waite was the first Australian ichthyologist to use detailed illustrations in his papers. During his career, he published around 140 papers, more than half were on fish. His major contribution to Australian ichthyology was The Fishes of South Australia (1923).

Waite contracted malaria while in New Guinea, and suffered from poor health from that time. He died on 19 January 1928 in Highbury Hospital, Hobart from enteric fever.

A species of Australian blind snake, Anilios waitii, is named in his honour.