Austin B. Williams

Austin Beatty Williams (October 17, 1919 – October 27, 1999) was an American carcinologist, "the acknowledged expert on and leader in studies of the systematics of eastern American decapod crustaceans".

Biography

Austin B. Williams was born on October 17, 1919, in Plattsburg, Missouri, the eldest of three children to Oliver Perry Williams and Lucy Sell. He was educated at McPherson College and the University of Kansas, gaining his Ph.D. in 1951. He then worked at the University of North Carolina Institute of Fisheries Research, the University of Illinois, before gaining a position in the systematics laboratory of the National Marine Fisheries Service, based at the Smithsonian Institution. He was married and had one son and two grandchildren. He died of cancer at Falls Church, Virginia, on October 27, 1999.

Work

Williams' first scientific paper, published in 1952, described six new species of freshwater crayfish from the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma; he continued to publish until his death in 1999, accruing 118 publications in that time. His most important works include monographs on the marine decapod crustaceans of the Carolinas, on the decapods of the Atlantic coast of the United States, and on the lobsters of the world's oceans. He won several awards, including the Crustacean Society's ''Excellence in Research Award'' and the American Fisheries Society's ''Oscar Elton Sette Award''.

Taxa

Austin B. Williams described or co-described 101 new taxa of decapod crustaceans, from the rank of subspecies to superfamily (obelisks mark fossil taxa):

; Caridea
*'' Alvinocaris'' Williams & Chace, 1982
*'' Alvinocaris lusca'' Williams & Chace, 1982
*'' Alvinocaris markensis'' Williams, 1988
*'' Alvinocaris muricola'' Williams, 1988
*'' Alvinocaris stactophila'' Williams, 1988
*''Leptalpheus'' Williams, 1965
*'' Leptalpheus forceps'' Williams, 1965
*'' Ogyrides hayi'' Williams, 1981
*'' Ogyrides limicola'' Williams, 1955
*'' Opaepele'' Williams & Dobbs, 1995
*'' Opaepele loihi'' Williams & Dobbs, 1995
*'' Rimicaris'' Williams & Rona, 1986
*'' Rimicaris chacei'' Williams & Rona, 1986
*'' Rimicaris exoculata'' Williams & Rona, 1986

; Astacidea
*''Homarinus'' Kornfield, Williams & Steneck, 1995
*'' Orconectes eupunctus'' Williams, 1952
*'' Orconectes meeki brevis'' Williams, 1952
*'' Orconectes nana'' Williams, 1952
*'' Orconectes nana marcus'' Williams, 1952
*'' Orconectes neglectus chaenodactylus'' Williams, 1952
*'' Orconectes ozarkae'' Williams, 1952

; Axiidea
*†'' Axiopsis eximia'' Kensley & Williams, 1990
*'' Calocaris jenneri'' Williams, 1974
*'' Calocaris oxypleura'' Williams, 1974

;Gebiidea
*'' Aethogebia'' Williams, 1993
*'' Aethogebia gorei'' Williams, 1993
*'' Pomatogebia'' Williams & Ngoc-Ho, 1990
*'' Upogebia acanthops'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia aestuari'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia aquilina'' Williams, 1993
*''Upogebia baldwini'' Williams, 1997
*'' Upogebia bermudensis'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia burkenroadi'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia careospina'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia casis'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia cocosia'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia coralliflora'' Williams & Scott, 1989
*'' Upogebia cortesi'' Williams, 2000
*'' Upogebia dawsoni'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia felderi'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia galapagensis'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia inomissa'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia jonesi'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia lepta'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia maccraryae'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia macginitieorum'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia molipollex'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia omissago'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia onychion'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia paraffinis'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia pillsbury'' Williams, 1993
*'' Upogebia ramphula'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia schmitti'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia spinistipula'' Williams & Heard, 1991
*'' Upogebia synagelas'' Williams, 1987
*'' Upogebia tenuipollex'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia thistlei'' Williams, 1986
*'' Upogebia toralae'' Williams & Hernández-Aguilera, 1998
*''Upogebia vargasae'' Williams, 1997
*'' Upogebia veleronis'' Williams, 1986

; Anomura
*''Munidopsis alvisca'' Williams, 1998
*'' Munidopsis glabra'' Pequegnat & Williams, 1995
*''Munidopsis granosicorium'' Williams & Baba, 1990
*'' Munidopsis lentigo'' Williams & Van Dover, 1983
*''Munidopsis lignaria'' Williams & Baba, 1990
*''Munidopsis marianica'' Williams & Baba, 1990
*''Shinkaia'' Baba & Williams, 1998
*''Shinkaia crosnieri'' Baba & Williams, 1998
*'' Uroptychus edisoniscus'' Baba & Williams, 1998

; Brachyura
*'' Allactaea'' Williams, 1974
*'' Allactaea lithorostrata'' Williams, 1974
*'' Bothromaia'' Williams & Moffit, 1991
*'' Bothromaia griffini'' Williams & Moffit, 1991
* Bythograeoidea Williams, 1980
*Bythograeidae Williams, 1980
*'' Bythograea'' Williams, 1980
*'' Bythograea mesatlantica'' Williams, 1988
*'' Bythograea thermydon'' Williams, 1980
*'' Callinectes similis'' Williams, 1966
*''Cyclozodion'' Williams & Child, 1989
*''Cyclozodion tuberatum'' Williams & Child, 1989
*''Epilobocera wetherbeei'' Rondríguez & Williams, 1995
*''Eplumula'' Williams, 1982
*†'' Heus'' Bishop & Williams, 2000
*†'' Heus forsteri'' Bishop & Williams, 2000
*'' Hypsophrys noar'' Williams, 1974
*'' Latreillia manningi'' Williams, 1982
*'' Latreillia metanesa'' Williams, 1982
*'' Menippe adina'' Williams & Felder, 1986
* Mimilambridae Williams, 1979
*'' Mimilambrus'' Williams, 1979
*'' Mimilambrus wileyi'' Williams, 1979
*†'' Necrocarcinus olsonorum'' Bishop & Williams, 1991
*''Ovalipes stephensoni'' Williams, 1976
*'' Panopeus austrobesus'' Williams, 1984
*'' Panopeus margentus'' Williams & Boschi, 1990
*'' Panopeus meridionalis'' Williams, 1984
*'' Plagiophthalmus bjorki'' Bishop & Williams, 2000
*'' Raninella manningi'' Bishop & Williams, 2000
*'' Rochinia decipiata'' Williams & Eldgredge, 1994
*'' Stilbomastax'' Williams, Shaw & Hopkins, 1977

One genus and several species were named by other scientists in honor of Williams. They include:
*'' Plesionika williamsi'' Forest, 1974 – a species of deep-water shrimp
*'' Agostocaris williamsi'' Hart & Manning, 1986 – a species of shrimp from the Caribbean Sea
*'' Austinograea williamsi'' Hessler & Martin, 1989 – a crab from hydrothermal vents; both the genus and the specific epithet commemorate Williams

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Austin B.
American carcinologists
1919 births
1999 deaths
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration personnel
People from Plattsburg, Missouri
McPherson College alumni
University of Kansas alumni
University of Illinois faculty
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Deaths from cancer in Virginia
20th-century American zoologists