Michael Gordon Rix is an Australian arachnologist, whose publications mainly concern

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s. , he was Principal Curator of

Arachnology Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of sp ...

and Research Fellow in the Biodiversity and Geosciences Program at the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museum in South Brisbane with specialist mu ...

. He has held numerous professional appointments including President of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists and Associate Editor of the ''

Journal of Arachnology The American Arachnological Society (AAS) is a scientific organization founded in 1972 in order to promote the study of arachnids by seeking to achieve closer cooperation and understanding between amateur and professional arachnologists along with ...

''. He is widely published and cited. The

World Spider Catalog The World Spider Catalog (WSC) is an online searchable database concerned with spider taxonomy. It aims to list all accepted families, genera and species, as well as provide access to the related taxonomic literature. The WSC began as a series of ...

lists 166 species names and 22 genus names authored or co-authored by Rix, . ''Pseudoanyphaena michaelrixi'', discovered in 2003, ''w''as named after him. His interest in spiders developed as a boy. He has interest in Australian trapdoor spiders and his research into their decline over the past decade. In early 2020 Rix expressed concern over the likely extinction of the assassin spider — ''Zephyrarchaea austini'' — also called the pelican spider, which is only known to occur in the Western River Wilderness Protection Area on

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

, as a result of the catastrophic 2020 bush fires.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian arachnologists University of Western Australia alumni {{Zoologist-stub