Mary Morgan-Richards is a New Zealand biologist, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

Academic career

In 1995, Morgan-Richard's completed a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

thesis titled '' 'Weta Karyotypes: the Systematic Significance of Their Variation' '' at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. Between 1996 and 2003, she worked at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

, and the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

successively. In 2005 Morgan-Richards moved to the

, rising to full professor in 2018.

Research

Morgan-Richard's research has focused on topics in evolutionary biology such as

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

and hybridisation, as well as

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...

, using

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and pop ...

, and

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

methods. Native New Zealand invertebrates including

wētā Wētā (also spelt weta) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemic to New Zealand. They are giant flightless crickets, and some are among the heaviest insects in th ...

stick insects The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida, Phasmatoptera or Spectra) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs, walking sticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as ...

, and

snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastrop ...

are often the subject of her research. She has

scientifically described A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

multiple species of wētā. Morgan-Richard's phylogenetic research has also focused on birds and their parasites.

Taxa named in Morgan-Richard's honour

* ''Peripatoides morgani'' Trewick, 1998

Books

* Trewick, Steve, & Morgan-Richards, Mary. (2019). ''Wild Life New Zealand.'' ''Hand-in-Hand Press'', New Zealand, .

Selected research

* Morgan-Richards, Mary, Trewick, Steve A., Bartosch-Härlid, Anna, Kardailsky, Olga, Phillips, Matthew J., McLenachan, Patricia A., & Penny, David. (2008). " Bird evolution: testing the Metaves clade with six new mitochondrial genomes." ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 8 (1): 20. * Pratt, Renae C., Gibb, Gillian C., Morgan-Richards, Mary, Phillips, Matthew J., Hendy, Michael D., & Penny, David. (2008). " Toward resolving deep Neoaves phylogeny: data, signal enhancement, and priors." ''Molecular Biology and Evolution'' 26 (2): 313–326. * Pratt, Renae C., Morgan-Richards, Mary, & Trewick, Steve A. (2008). " Diversification of New Zealand weta (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Anostostomatidae) and their relationships in Australasia." ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences'' 363 (1508): 3427–3437. * Trewick, Steven A., & Morgan‐Richards, Mary. (2005). " After the deluge: mitochondrial DNA indicates Miocene radiation and Pliocene adaptation of tree and giant weta (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae)." ''Journal of Biogeography'' 32 (2): 295–309.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan-Richards, Mary Living people New Zealand women academics Year of birth missing (living people) Victoria University of Wellington alumni Academic staff of Massey University New Zealand biologists Evolutionary biologists