Frances Murphy

Frances Mary Murphy (29 April 1926 – 20 July 1995) was a British arachnologist, nature photographer and first woman president of the British Entomological & Natural History Society.

Biography Early life Murphy was born Frances Mary Wrangham in England on the 29th of April 1926. She spent her early years living with her mother, father and younger brother Edward Addison Wrangham, who became a notable collector of Japanese art. Her mother died when she was seven years old. Her parents were both interested in the natural world, and Murphy took after them in this regard. She would often explore the local natural environment during school holidays. which later became the British Arachnological Society. Here she undertook field studies course on spiders which was the beginning of her scientific career. She notably was the first woman to be the President of the British Entomological & Natural History Society in 1989.

Over the course of her career, and continued by her husband, the Murphys collected some 45,000 specimens which are now held by Manchester Museum.

Memberships The Flatford Mill Spider Group - Member from 1962 British Arachnological Society - Founding Member 1968 British Arachnological Society - Ordinary Member 1989-1992 British Tarantula Society The Spider Club of Southern Africa The Australasian Arachnological Society The centre International de Documentation Arachnologique The Société Européen d'Arachnologie Friends of the Natural History Museum - founder and member British Entomological & Natural History Society - Member, Secretary and President (1989)

Species and genera named in her honour

Spiders

Asemonea murphyae (Wanless, 1980) Acusilas gentin gensis (Murphy & Murphy, 1983) Acusilas malaccensis (Murphy & Murphy, 1983) Portia orientalis (Murphy & Murphy, 1983) Liphistius murphyorum (Platnick & Sedgwick, 1984) Dysdera murphyorum (Deeleman-Reinhold, 1988) Diores murphyorum (Jocqué, 1990) Eumenophorus murphyorum (Smith, 1990) Zodarion murphyorum (Bosmans, 1994) Murphydium (Jocqué, 1996) Neaetha murphyorum (Prószyński, 2000) Zelotes murphyorum (FitzPatrick, 2007) Heteroonops murphyorum (Platnick & Dupérré, 2009) Stenoonops murphyorum (Platnick & Dupérré,2010) Pescennia murphyorum (Platnick & Dupérré,2011) Mallinella murphyorum (Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012) Tropizodium murphyorum (Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012) Costarina murphyorum (Platnick & Berniker, 2014) Aelurillus murphyorum (Azarkina, 2022) Alopecosa murphyorum (Zamani, Nadolny, Esyunin & Marusik, 2022) Lycosoides murphyorum (Bosmans, Lecigne, Benhalima & Aborous-Kherbouche, 2022) Locketina murphyorum (Tanasevitch, 2022) Murphyarachne (Sherwood & Gabriel, 2022) Murphydrela francescae (Jocqué & RussellSmith, 2022) Patelloceto murphyorum (Pett, 2022) Sceliraptor murphyorum (Zonstein & Marusik, 2022)

Genera Roncocreagris murphyorum (Judson, 1992) (pseudoscorpion)

Selected works Books

(1980). Keeping Spiders, Insects and other Land Invertebrates Edinburgh: John Bartholomew & Son (Bartholomew Pet Care Series) (2000). An Introduction to the Spiders of South East Asia Malaysian Nature Society

Selected papers Murphy, F. and Tongiorgi, P., 1979. Arctosa villica (Lucas) 1846: drawings and observations. Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society, 4(9), pp. 402–406. Forster, L.M. and Murphy, F.M., 1986. Ecology and behaviour in Portia schultzii, with notes on related species (Araneae, Salticidae). Journal of Arachnology, pp. 29–42.