Robert P. Higgins

Robert Price Higgins (October 8, 1932 – December 18, 2022) was an American systematic invertebrate zoologist and ecologist, specializing in the unusual taxa of kinorhynchs and tardigrades.[3][4]

Robert Price Higgins
Born(1932-10-08)October 8, 1932
Denver, Colorado, USA
DiedDecember 18, 2022(2022-12-18) (aged 90)
Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Colorado, Duke University
SpouseGwendolyn Litherland (m. 1954) [2]
AwardsAAAS Fellow
Scientific career
FieldsNatural history
InstitutionsWake Forest University, Marine Biological Laboratory, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
ThesisMorphological, larval, and systematic studies of the Kinorhynchs.
Author abbrev. (zoology)Higgins
Notes

Early life and education

Robert P. Higgins was born on 8 Oct 1932 in Denver, Colorado to Jay Higgins and Amy E (Gates) Higgins,[5][6] and he attended South High School in Denver, graduating in 1950.[7] He attended the University of Colorado where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees studying in the laboratory of invertebrate zoologist Robert William Pennak, and on the advice of Pennak, he attended Duke University, as a James W. Duke Fellow, earning his Ph.D. in 1961.[3][4]

Career

In 1961, Higgins started his career in academia as a faculty member in the Biology Department at Wake Forest University, and in 1968 he had a one-year post-doctoral research position at the Marine Biological Laboratory in the Systematics-Ecology program. In 1969, he joined the Smithsonian Institution in the as a biological oceanographer. Higgins served as Director of the Centre for Mediterranean Marine Classification 1969–1971, Program Director of Limnology and Oceanography, 1971–1974, acting director, International Programme on Environmental Sciences in 1974, Zoologist Superior from 1974 to 1978, and Curator, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History in 1978. Higgins retired from the Smithsonian Institution in 1996.[4]

Death

Higgins died at the age of 90 on December 18, 2022, in Asheville, North Carolina.[1]

Selected publications
  • 1959: Life history of Macrobiotus islandicus Richters with notes on other tardigrades from Colorado. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 78(2):137-154. https://doi.org/10.2307/3224022
  • 1967: The revival of Macrobiotus areolatus Murray (Tardigrada) from the Cryptobiotic State. Crowe, J.H., & Higgins, R.P. 1967. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 86(3):286-294.
  • 1975: Occurrence of the genus Tanarctus Renaud-Debyser, 1959 in Northeastern Atlantic waters with a description of T. ramazzotti n. sp. (Arthrotardigrada).[8]
  • 1983: The Atlantic barrier reef ecosystem at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, II: Kinorhyncha.[9]
  • 1984: A New Family of Arthrotardigrada (Tardigrada: Heterotardigrada) from the Atlantic Coast of Florida, U.S.A.[10]
  • 1986: New Loricifera from southeastern United States coastal Waters.[11]
  • 1988: Introduction to the Study of Meiofauna.[12]

Taxa and species described by Higgins

Taxa described in honor of Higgins
  • Parastygarctus higginsi Renaud-Debyser, 1965
  • Halicaris higginsi Newell, 1984
  • Echinoderes higginsi Huys & Coomans, 1989
  • Araphura higginsi Sieg & Dojiri, 1989
  • Halicryptus higginsi Shirley & Storch, 1999
  • Ptychostomella higginsi Clausen, 2004
  • Fissuroderes higginsi Neuhaus & Blasche, 2006
  • Typhlamphiascus higginsi Chullasorn 2009
  • Isoechiniscoides higginsi (Hallas & Kristensen, 1982)

References
  1. "Obituary". Asheville Citizen-Times. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  2. Ancestry.com. Colorado, U.S., Select County Marriages, 1863-2018 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020.
  3. Adrienne Mason (27 Feb 2018). "Lord of the Rhynchs". Hakai Magazine. Retrieved 6 Jan 2023.
  4. "Robert Price Higgins". Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Science. Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Sciences Vol. 212 No. 2 pp iv-vi. 121 (2): iv–vi. Summer 2005. JSTOR 24371875. Retrieved 27 Dec 2020.
  5. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Census Place: Denver, Denver, Colorado; Roll: m-t0627-00486; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 16-85.
  6. Ancestry.com. U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Voter Registration Lists, Public Record Filings, Historical Residential Records, and Other Household Database Listings.
  7. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
  8. Renaud-Mornant, J. and Higgins, R.P., eds., 1975. Occurrence of the genus Tanarctus Renaud-Debyser, 1959 in Northeastern Atlantic waters with a description of T. ramazzotti n. sp. (Arthrotardigrada). Memorie dell'Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia Dott. Marco de Marchi, vol. 32, suppl.: International Symposium on Tardigrades, Pallanza, Italy, June 17–19, 1974: 325-332.
  9. Higgins, Robert R.P. 1983: The atlantic barrier reef ecosistema at Carrie Bow cay, Belize, II: Kinorhyncha.Smithsonian Contribution to the Marine Sciences, 18 131p.
  10. Kristensen, R.M. and Higgins, R.P., 1984. A New Family of Arthrotardigrada (Tardigrada: Heterotardigrada) from the Atlantic Coast of Florida, U.S.A. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, vol. 103, no. 3: 295-311.
  11. Higgins, Robert P.; Kristensen, R.M. 1986: New Loricifera from southeastern United States coastal waters Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 438 Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington D.C.. III, 70 pp. ISSN 0081-0282
  12. Higgins, R.P. and Thiel, Hjalmar. 1988: Introduction to the Study of Meiofauna. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988 – 488
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