Mary Morgan-Richards | |
|---|---|
 Mary Morgan-Richards in 2019 | |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Victoria University of Wellington |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Evolutionary biology |
| Institutions | Massey University |
| Thesis | |
| Website | evolves |
Mary Morgan-Richards is a New Zealand biologist, and as of 2019 is a full professor at Massey University. [1]
In 1995, Morgan-Richard's completed a PhD thesis titled 'Weta Karyotypes: the Systematic Significance of Their Variation' at the Victoria University of Wellington. Between 1996 and 2003, she worked at the University of St Andrews, University of Otago, the Natural History Museum, London, and the University of Canterbury successively. In 2005 Morgan-Richards moved to the Massey University, rising to full professor in 2018. [1]
Morgan-Richard's research has focused on topics in evolutionary biology such as speciation [2] [3] and hybridisation, [4] [5] as well as conservation biology, using population genetics, [6] and phylogenetic methods. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
Native New Zealand invertebrates including wētā, [5] [8] [10] [13] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] stick insects, [4] [23] and snails [6] [11] [12] [14] [15] [24] are often the subject of her research. She has scientifically described multiple species of wētā. [16] [21] [25] Morgan-Richard's phylogenetic research has also focused on birds and their parasites. [7] [9] [26]
Cladogenesis is an evolutionary splitting of a parent species into two distinct species, forming a clade.
Motuweta is a genus consisting of two species of tusked wētā in the family Anostostomatidae, endemic to New Zealand. The Northland tusked wētā, Anisoura nicobarica, may belong in this group, in which case the genus Motuweta would become a junior synonym of Anisoura.
Tree wētā are wētā in the genus Hemideina of the family Anostostomatidae. The genus is endemic to New Zealand. There are seven species within the genus Hemideina, found throughout the country except lowland Otago and Southland. Because many tree wētā species are common and widespread they have been used extensively in studies of ecology and evolution.
Hemiandrus is a genus of wētā in the family Anostostomatidae. In New Zealand they are known as ground wētā due to their burrowing lifestyle. Hemiandrus wētā are nocturnal, and reside in these burrows during the day. Ground wētā seal the entrance of their burrow during the day with a soil plug or door so that their burrow is concealed. Ground wētā adults are smaller than other types of wētā, with the unusual trait of having either long or short ovipositors, depending on the species. The name of this genus comes from this trait as hemi- mean half and -andrus means male, as the species where the female has a short ovipositor can sometimes be mistaken for a male. This genus has a diverse diet, depending on the species.
The Northland tusked wētā, Anisoura nicobarica, is a rare monotypic wētā of the family Anostostomatidae, endemic to the northern half of Northland in New Zealand, and originally described in 1932. The type specimen was wrongly labelled as coming from the Nicobar Islands, so the species was named Anisoura nicobarica. It was erroneously described again in 1950 by a different author, who placed it in the ground wētā genus Hemiandrus.
Deinacrida fallai or the Poor Knights giant wētā is a species of insect in the family Anostostomatidae. It is endemic to the Poor Knights Islands off northern New Zealand. D. fallai are commonly called giant wētā due to their large size. They are one of the largest insects in the world, with a body length measuring up to 73 mm. Their size is an example of island gigantism. They are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN due to their restricted distribution.
Deinacrida parva is a species of insect in the family Anostostomatidae, the king crickets and weta. It is known commonly as the Kaikoura wētā or Kaikoura giant wētā. It was first described in 1894 from a male individual then rediscovered in 1966 by Dr J.C. Watt at Lake Sedgemore in Upper Wairau. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it can be found in the northern half of the South Island.
Penion chathamensis is a species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Austrosiphonidae.
Antarctoneptunea is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the whelk family Austrosiphonidae.
Deinacrida connectens, often referred to as the alpine scree wētā, is one of New Zealand's largest alpine invertebrates and is a member of the Anostostomatidae family. Deinacrida connectens is a flightless nocturnal insect that lives under rocks at high elevation. Mountain populations vary in colour. This species is the most widespread of the eleven species of giant wētā (Deinacrida).
Hemideina thoracica, commonly known as the Auckland tree wētā or tokoriro is a cricket-like insect. It is endemic to New Zealand and is found over most of the North Island, except for the Wellington region and regions 900 metres above sea level. This species is an arboreal, herbivorous generalist however, it is also thought to be polyphagous and is found in all wooded habitats, including forest, scrub and suburban gardens.
Hemideina maori, also known as the mountain stone wētā, is a wētā of the family Anostostomatidae. They are a large, flightless, nocturnal orthopteran endemic to New Zealand. Mountain stone wētā are long lived and are found on many central mountain ranges in New Zealand's South Island.
Hemideina crassidens, commonly known as the Wellington tree wētā, is a large, flightless, nocturnal insect in the family Anostostomatidae. This wētā species is endemic to New Zealand and populates regions in the southern half of North Island/Te Ika a Maui and the north-west of the South Island/Te Wai Pounamu. They forage arboreally during the night and are most likely polyphagous. There is obvious sexual dimorphism in adults. Individuals are reliant on tree cavities for refuge, social interactions and mating.
Hemiandrus bilobatus, the wine wētā, is a species of ground weta endemic to New Zealand. Being a ground weta, they are often found in burrows in the ground during the daytime. The species is found in Wellington, on Mana Island and northern South Island and is classified as "Not Threatened". This species of weta is unusual for an insect in that the female shows maternal care. She lays about 50 eggs in the same burrow she uses during the day and looks after her eggs until they hatch.
Anderus nox, the night ground wētā, is a species of ground wētā endemic to New Zealand. During the day, this wētā hides in burrows in the soil and is active only at night. The species is found in native forests in North and South Island. Females of this species have medium-long curved ovipositers to lay their eggs in the soil. Unlike some ground wētā species, A. nox does not show maternal care.
Hemideina trewicki, the Hawkes Bay tree wētā, is a large arboreal long-horned cricket in the order Orthoptera. The species is endemic to New Zealand and restricted to the Hawke's Bay region of North Island
Anderus maculifrons is a species of ground wētā endemic to New Zealand. They are nocturnal, carnivorous, and flightless orthopterans belonging to the family Anostostomatidae. Being a nocturnal species, individuals remain in tunnels in the ground during the day and emerge from their burrows after sunset to forage and hunt for small invertebrates. Anderus maculifrons is one of the smallest New Zealand weta species, averaging 15 mm in length and weighing 1–3 g. Unlike the tree weta and tusked weta, where sexual dimorphism is found in the form of male weaponry, ground weta only exhibit sexual size dimorphism: the females are larger than the males.
Wētā 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 the world. Generally nocturnal, most small species are carnivores and scavengers while the larger species are herbivorous. Although some endemic birds likely prey on them, wētā are disproportionately preyed upon by introduced mammals, and some species are now critically endangered.
Hemideina broughi is a species of wētā endemic to New Zealand. Because this species is only found in forest of the west coast of South Island its common name is West Coast Bush wētā.
Anderus is a genus of forest insects in the family Anostostomatidae (wētā). All Anderus species are nocturnal, and hide in burrows during the day. In New Zealand they are known as ground wētā due to their burrowing lifestyle. Ground wētā adults are smaller than other types of wētā, and females of all Anderus species have long ovipositors.
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