Ailsa McGown Clark (1926-2014) was a British zoologist, who principally studied

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the s ...

s (such as starfishes and sea urchins) and was a specialist on

asteroidea Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish a ...

. She worked at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

for most of her career.

Life

Ailsa McGown Clark was born in Hendon. From 1948, Clark was curator of Echinoderms at the British Museum (Natural History). During 1954, she conducted research into ophiurums (

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

s) at the Allan Hancock Foundation for Scientific Research, at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. It is noted that Ailsa McGown Clark was one of a number of unrelated Clarks who became experts in echinoderms.

Libbie Hyman Libbie Henrietta Hyman (December 6, 1888 – August 3, 1969), was a U.S. zoologist. She wrote numerous works on invertebrate zoology and the widely used '' A Laboratory Manual for Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy'' (1922, revised in 1942). Life B ...

made reference to this 'odd circumstance' in a review of ''Starfishes and their relations'' for the ''Quarterly Review of Biology''. She said of the book itself that it would 'serve admirably to introduce beginners to this important phylum.' On the death of her colleague, Dr.

Austin Hobart Clark Austin Hobart Clark (December 17, 1880 – October 28, 1954) was an American zoologist. He was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts and died in Washington, D.C. His research covered a wide range of topics including oceanography, marine biolog ...

, she completed his work ''A monograph of the existing crinoids'' (1967). Her efforts in doing so were praised:

The description of the entire world fauna of over 600 species of comatulids has now been completed. All parts, except this latest, were written by Austin H. Clark, of the U.S. National Museum. On his death (in October 1954) he left an unfinished manuscript which Ailsa M. Clark, of the British Museum, undertook to complete and illustrate. Although the separate portions due to each of the authors are indicated, the work reads as an integrated whole. This is doubtless due in part to the happy circumstance of both authors having worked together during the last year of Austin Clark's long and productive life; but it is also a tribute to the skill with which Miss Clark has completed her task, conscious of an obligation to present the senior author's views, while at the same time moderating them by her own where these differed.

Clark illustrated the text with 'a series of line drawings of the species' described, which offered 'a more precise means of comparing material with the descriptions'. The reviewer (

Barry Fell Howard Barraclough Fell (June 6, 1917 – April 21, 1994), better known as Barry Fell, was a professor of invertebrate zoology at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. While his primary professional research included starfish and sea urch ...

) also noted another 'important innovation' of Clark's:

a major revision of the family Antedonidae, a group of great importance in cool temperate, polar and deep-sea faunas. This study, undertaken by Miss Clark some years since, but only now formally published, comprises the section of the monograph of most value to the general marine biologist.

Between 1968 and 1969, Clark also published three reviews of others' works in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'': 'Ophiuroids of Soviet Seas', 'Irregular Echinoids', and 'Russian Sea Urchins'. Clark retired aged 60 in 1986, but remained active. She died in Brighton on 24 Sep 2014.

Legacy

The species ''ophiolepsis ailsae'' was named for Clark, 'in recognition of a highly esteemed student of the Echinodermata on her retirement from the British Museum (Natural History)'. The World

Asteroidea Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish a ...

Database (WAD) is largely drawn from the "Asteroid Names List", developed principally by Clark. Former colleagues believed that Clark's major legacy would be 'the revisions and faunistic works she and various other co-workers produced'. The archives of the Natural History Museum hold various papers relating to Clark and her work.

Bibliography

* ''A revision of the sea-stars of the genus Tethyaster'', with 12 plates (1954) * ''Starfishes and their relations'' (1962) * ''Japanese and other Ophiuroids from the collections of the Münich Museum'' (1965) * ''Notes on some tropical Indo-Pacific Ophiotrichids and Ophiodermatids (Ophiuroidea)'' (1968) * ''Echinodermata Crinoidea'' (1970) * ''Notes on the family Amphiuridae (Ophiuroidea)'' (1970) * ''Monograph of shallow-water Indo-West Pacific echinoderms'' (1971) * ''Some crinoids from the Indian Ocean'' (1972) * ''Some new taxa of recent stalked Crinoidea'' (1973) * ''Notes on some Echinoderms from southern Africa'' (1974) * ''The echinoderms of Southern Africa'' (1976) * ''Notes on deep-water Atlantic Crinoidea'' (1977) * ''Starfishes and related echinoderms'' (1977) * ''Notes on Atlantic and other Asteroidea: 1. Family Benthopectinidae'' (1981) * ''Starfishes of the Atlantic'' (1992) with

Maureen Downey Maureen Elizabeth Downey (May 1, 1921 – May 14, 2000) was an American zoologist who worked for three decades at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Known as "The Starfish Lady," she was an authority on sea stars and other echinod ...

References

External links

Ailsa McGown Clark
at

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGown Clark, Ailsa 1926 births 2014 deaths English zoologists People associated with the Natural History Museum, London English women scientists 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century English scientists People from Hendon 20th-century English women 20th-century English people