Aola Richards

Aola Mary Richards (16 December 1927 – 2021) was a New Zealand entomologist specialising in the study of New Zealand and Australian cave crickets (Rhaphidophoridae) and Australian ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). She was the first New Zealand woman to gain a PhD in Biology.

Early life

Richards was born in Wellington, New Zealand. She was the only child of Hinemoa C C Hopkins, a lawyer, and David James Richard, a university mathematics professor from Wales.[1] Richards' parents were married just a few years before they separated.[2][3] Richards attended Queen Margaret's College[4] then Samuel Marsden Collegiate School for Girls in Wellington.[5] She gained First Class MSc in Zoology in 1954 from the University of New Zealand.[5][6] Richards was awarded a New Zealand University research fund fellowship,[7] and in 1958 she became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a PhD in Biological Science.[6][5]

Career

Richards worked at Plant Diseases Division, New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research,[8] Auckland and then moved to Australia. She worked within the Biology Department of the University of New South Wales for 33 years.[5]

Richards published more than 80 papers, many of them taxonomic revisions[9] and species descriptions with a single author.[10] Her most cited works are on the life history and feeding biology of beetles and wētā.[11][12][13][14][15]

Richards' PhD research initiated her love of caves and the fauna that lives in caves. This led to field work across Australia[11] and Europe[5] and involvement in speleological societies. Along with Ted Lane she was the founding editor of Helictite,[16] providing a news service and collection of speleological papers.[17] Richards inspired the study of the animals that live in caves in Tasmania[18] and her species descriptions contributed to conservation efforts.[19]

Richards made a major contribution to the taxonomy of New Zealand and Australian Rhaphidophoridae (cave crickets/wētā).[20][21] She described five genera[22][23][24] from New Zealand and more than twenty new species[9] comprising almost all of the Australian taxa.[25] A cave wētā species was named for her in 2018: Miotopus richardsae.[26]

In Australia, Richards also studied ladybird beetles. Her taxonomic work[15] is highly cited and her studies of feeding biology revealed novel plant-insect interactions.[14] Richards and Filewood were the first to describe how beetles can avoid toxic plant compounds by chewing through the leafstalk of their food plant. Referred to as "trench warfare", this behaviour allows ladybird beetles to isolate a region of the plant, preventing toxic plant compounds reaching them.[27]

Selected publications
  • Richards, A. M. (1983). "The Epilachna vigintiotopunctata complex (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)." International Journal of Entomology . 25(1): 11–41.
  • Richards, A. M. (1981). "Rhyzobius ventralis (Erichson) and R. forestieri (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), their biology and value for scale insect control." Bulletin of Entomological Research. 71(1): 33–46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485300051002
  • Richards, A. M. (1973). "A comparative study of the biology of the Giant wetas Deinacrida heteracantha and D. fallai (Orthoptera: Henicidae) from New Zealand." Journal of Zoology. 169(2): 195–236.
  • Richards A. M. (1971). "An ecological study of the cavernicolous fauna of the Nullarbor Plain Southern Australia." Journal of Zoology. 164(1): 1–60.

References
  1. "Lady of the Law". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Jan 1927. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  2. "Marriages". Evening Post. February 1929. Retrieved 2022-04-21 – via Papers Past.
  3. "The Otago University". New Zealand Herald. 1907. Retrieved 2022-04-21 – via Papers Past.
  4. "Queen Margaret College". Evening Post. 1937. Retrieved 2022-04-21 – via Papers Past.
  5. "1994, no. 4 (31 Mar., 1994)". Trove. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  6. University of New Zealand Roll of Graduates (PDF). Wellington: Whitcombe & Tombs. 1961.
  7. "Appendix". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 1959. Retrieved 2022-04-21 – via Papers Past.
  8. Richards, A. M. (1960). "Revision of the Rhaphidophoridae (Orthoptera) of New Zealand. Part VII. The Rhaphidophoridae of the Waipu Caves". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 88: 259–264.
  9. Cook, Lorraine D.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Johns, Peter M. (2010). "Status of the New Zealand cave weta (Rhaphidophoridae) genera Pachyrhamma, Gymnoplectron and Turbottoplectron". Invertebrate Systematics. 24 (2): 131–138. doi:10.1071/IS09047. ISSN 1447-2600.
  10. "Display Personal Information". orthoptera.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  11. Richards, Aola M. (1971). "An ecological study of the cavernicolous fauna of the Nullarbor Plain Southern Australia". Journal of Zoology. 164 (1): 1–60. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1971.tb01297.x. ISSN 0952-8369.
  12. Richards, Aola M. (1973). "A comparative study of the biology of the Giant wetas Deinacrida heteracantha and D. fallai (Orthoptera: Henicidae) from New Zealand". Journal of Zoology. 169 (2): 195–236. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1973.tb04554.x. ISSN 0952-8369.
  13. Richards, A. M. (1962). "Feeding behaviour and enemies of Rhaphidophoridae (Orthoptera) from Waitomo caves, New Zealand". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand – Zoology. 2: 121–129.
  14. Richards, Aola M.; Filewood, L. W. (1990-01-12). "Feeding behaviour and food preferences of the pest species comprising the Epilachna vigintioctopunctata (F.) complex (Col., Coccinellidae)". Journal of Applied Entomology. 110 (1–5): 501–515. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0418.1990.tb00150.x. S2CID 84005075.
  15. Richards, A. M. (1983). "The Epilachna vigintioctopunctata complex (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)". International Journal of Entomology. 25: 11–41.
  16. "Helictite - History of Publication". helictite.caves.org.au. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  17. Dunkley, John (2017). "Obituary: Edward A. Lane" (PDF). Helictite. 43: 33–35.
  18. Haygarth, Nic. "White knuckles in the underworld: the 'wild' days of the Tasmanian Caverneering Club" (PDF). Cave and Karst Management in Australasia. 18: 36–52.
  19. Richards, Aola (1971). "The Rhaphidophoridae (Orthoptera) of Australia Part 9. The distribution and possible origins of Tasmanian Rhaphidophoridae, with descriptions of two new species". Pacific Insects. 13: 575–587.
  20. Fitness, Josephine (2016). Te pūtaiao o tokoriro : taxonomy and diversity of New Zealand cave wētā (Orthoptera; Rhaphidophoridae): a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand (Thesis thesis). Massey University.
  21. Sharell, Richard (1971). New Zealand Insects and their story. Hong Kong: Collins. pp. 133–135. ISBN 0002165309.
  22. Richards, Aola M. (1972). "Revision of the Rhaphidophoridae (Orthoptera) of New Zealand. Part XIV. Three alpine genera from the South Island". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 2 (2): 151–174. Bibcode:1972JRSNZ...2..151R. doi:10.1080/03036758.1972.10429371. ISSN 0303-6758.
  23. Richards, A. M. (1964). "The Insects of Campbell Island. Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae of Auckland and Campbell Islands". Pacific Insects Monographs. 7: 216–225.
  24. "Rhaphidophoridae". wetageta.massey.ac.nz. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  25. "Search for taxon". orthoptera.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  26. Fitness, Josephine L.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Hegg, Danilo; Trewick, Steven A. (2018-10-18). "Reinstatement of the New Zealand cave wētā genus Miotopus Hutton (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) and description of a new species". European Journal of Taxonomy (468). doi:10.5852/ejt.2018.468. ISSN 2118-9773. S2CID 92216025.
  27. Archer, Michael (1992). "Sandwiches and Sandwich eater" (PDF). Australian Natural History: 64–65.
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