Edward J. Miers

Edward John Miers FZS FLS (1851–15 October 1930) was a British zoologist and curator of the crustacean collection at the Natural History Museum in London. He contributed to the scientific reports from the Challenger expedition of 1872–1876, and described 32 new genera and at least 260 new species and subspecies of decapod crustaceans, along with four genera and 72 new species in other orders.

Biography The new Natural History Museum buildings, completed in 1880. Miers spent much of his time arranging for specimens to be moved here from Bloomsbury. Miers was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1851 to the civil engineer Francis Charles Miers and his wife. His grandfather was the engineer and botanist John Miers, and his younger brother (born 1858) was the mineralogist Sir Henry Alexander Miers. Francis Miers retired in 1860 and left South America for England, where Edward was educated at the Summerfield School, Oxford, before being sent for a year to the Academy in Lausanne (which would later become the University of Lausanne). Miersia Kingsley, 1880 – Caridea: Oplophoridae (name suppressed in favour of Acanthephyra ) Anchistus miersi (De Man, 1888) – Caridea: Palaemonidae Metapenaeopsis miersi Holthuis, 1952 – Dendrobranchiata: Penaeidae Paraceradocus miersi Pfeffer, 1888 – Amphipoda: Maeridae Parthenope miersi (A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1898) – Brachyura: Parthenopidae Clorida miersi Manning 1968 – Stomatopoda: Squillidae Pseudidothea miersi (Studer, 1884) – Isopoda: Pseudidotheidae

Taxa named by Miers include: Alpheus novaezealandiae – a species of shrimp Hexapodidae – a family of crabs Hippolyte bifidirostris – a species of shrimp Justitia mauritiana – a species of spiny lobster Paramoera – a genus of amphipod Parathranites – a genus of crabs Paratya – a genus of shrimp Porcellionides – a genus of woodlouse Portunus trituberculatus – gazami crab Potamonautes johnstoni – a species of terrestrial crab Trapeziidae – a family of crabs Upogebia danai – a species of mud lobster