Marion Durbin Ellis

Marion Durbin Ellis (Oct. 25, 1887 – Dec. 16, 1972) was an American ichthyologist and entomologist.[1] She is credited with conducting the most comprehensive study to date of the Hemigrammus genus of fish[2] of which she named nineteen taxa. The taxon Corydoras ellisae and Hyphessobrycon ellisae (a.k.a. Hyphessobrycon sergipanus) are named for her as are the species Bryconops durbinae[3] and Bryconacidnus ellisi.[4]

Marion Durbin Ellis
Born(1887-10-25)October 25, 1887
Los Angeles, California
DiedDecember 16, 1972(1972-12-16) (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materIndiana University Bloomington
SpouseMax Mapes Ellis
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsUniversity of Michigan Biological Station
U.S. Bureau of Fisheries

Early life

Marion Lee Durbin was born in Los Angeles to David Henry and Cornelia (Fitch) Durbin. She graduated high school from Anderson High School in Indiana. She attended Earlham College from 1905 to 1906 and then earned her A.B. degree in 1909 from Indiana University where she was a member of Delta Gamma sorority, and Sigma Xi honorary society. She married Max Mapes Ellis in September of that year. She earned her A.M. degree from Indiana University in 1910.[1][5] During her time at IU she studied under Carl H. Eigenmann[6] and Charles Zeleny.[7]

Career

In 1908, Dr. Eigenmann turned over some fish samples he had taken from British Guyana that he found very perplexing. The then named Ms. Durbin was able to identify a new genus and twelve new species of Tetragonopterid Characins.[6][8]

After graduating from IU the family moved to Boulder, Colorado where she worked with Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell. They made the first scientific observations of Claytonia rosea in 1913.[9]

By 1914 she was the Dean of Women at the University of Michigan Biological Station where her husband was also on staff.[10][11] In 1925, she moved with her husband to Fairport, Iowa where they worked at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries lab and studied mussel reproduction.[12]

In 1930, Cockerell used her as one of two examples in an article in Nature about how the scientific community needed to fix citations for women who publish work before and after a name change.[6]

Personal

Ellis had her only child, Cornelia Grace, in October 1914.[13] She was a member of the Indiana Academy of Science, the Society of Friends, and was in favor of women's suffrage.[1] She died in Los Angeles in 1972.

Publications

References
  1. Woman's Who's Who of America. The American Commonwealth Company. 1914. pp. 274 & 275. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  2. Ota, Rafaela P.; Lima, Flavio C.T.; Pavanelli, Carla (April 21, 2015). "A new species of Hemigrammus Gill, 1858 (Characiformes: Characidae) from the central and western Amazon and rio Paraná-Paraguai basins". Zootaxa. pp. 218–230. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  3. Scharpf, Christopher; Lazara, Kenneth J. (February 1, 2023). "Order CHARACIFORMES: Families IGUANODECTIDAE, TRIPORTHEIDAE, BRYCONIDAE, CHALCEIDAE and GASTEROPELECIDAE". The ETYFish Project. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  4. "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes". California Academy of Sciences. July 6, 2023.
  5. "Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi in Delta Gamma". The Anchora of the Delta Gamma Fraternity. January 1, 1915. p. 231. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  6. Cockerell, T.D.A. (December 1, 1930). "The Designation of Women Biologists". Nature. Vol. 126, no. 3190. p. 957. doi:10.1038/126957b0. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  7. Durbin, Marion L. (October 1909). "An Analysis of the Rate of Regeneration Throughout the Regenerative Process". The Journal of Experimental Zoology. 7 (3): 397–420. doi:10.1002/jez.1400070302. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  8. "II. Reports on the Expedition to British Guiana on the Indiana University and the Carnegie Museum, 1908". Annals of the Carnegie Musem. Vol. VI, no. 1. August 1909. pp. 55–72. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  9. Ellis, Marion Durbin (1913). "Seven New North American Bees of the Genus Halictus (Hym.)". Entomological News, and Proceedings of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA: Entomological Rooms of the Academy of Natural Sciences. 24 (5): 205–211. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  10. Ellis, Marion. "Marion Ellis to A.G. Vestal, 1915". Ecological Society of America.
  11. Calendar of the University of Michigan. University of Michigan. 1914. p. 39. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  12. Pritchard, James (December 2001). "An Historical Analysis of Mussel Propagation and Culture: Research Performed at the Fairport Biological Station". U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. p. 47.
  13. "Alumni Notes". The Emerald of Sigma Pi. Vol. 2, no. 3. May 1915. p. 189.
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