Elizabeth Morris Exley (29 November 1927 – 1 September 2007) was an entomologist who researched

Australian native bees Australia has over 1,700 species of native bee. Bees collect pollen from flowers to feed their young. Flies do not do this, although they may be seen ''eating'' pollen, so identification is not always easy. Sting or no sting, solitary vs s ...

, ''Euryglossines''.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Exley was born in Bardon, Brisbane, Queensland, on 29 November 1927. Her extended family owned

Bardon House Bardon House is a heritage-listed detached house at 41 The Drive, Bardon, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1864 to 1926. It is also known as Franciscan Sisters' Convent. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 19 ...

, a home which later became part of St Joseph's Catholic School at Bardon in 1925. Her grandmother, also named Elizabeth Exley was credited with establishing a local branch of Mother's Union, which became a district nursing service now known as

Anglicare Anglicare Australia is the national umbrella community services body of agencies associated with each diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia. Anglicare is also a brand name under which many Australian Anglican community services agencies ...

. Young Elizabeth's father was a founding member of the Queensland Naturalists' Club, and the family had a strong interest in natural history. She attended Rainworth State School and

Brisbane Girls Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing without labour , address = Gregory Terrace , city = Spring Hill , state = Queensland , postcode = 4000 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent secondary da ...

from 1941 to 1944. She enrolled in a B.Sc. at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

in 1945. She took her Honours degree in 1949 studying fruit fly larvae whilst working as a Demonstrator. After winning a scholarship, Exley studied an education diploma at the Imperial College, London in 1953. She worked as an entomologist with the

Queensland Department of Agriculture The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is a department of the Queensland Government which aims to maximise the economic potential for Queensland's primary industries on a sustainable basis through strategic industrial development. The sec ...

in 1954. Exley went on to take her master's degree from the university in 1956. After initially studying ants, she switched to bees after working with Professor Charles Michener of the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, during his Fulbright Scholarship visit to UQ in 1958. Very little was known of native bee fauna in Australia, and she undertook extensive systematics of the family Colletidae, ''Euryglossines'', which are associated with Australia's myrtaceous plants, especially eucalypts. Exley earned her PhD in 1968, with her research on Australian native bees.

Career

After working at the Queensland Department of Agriculture in the mid 1950s, Exley began employment as a tutor at the university in 1958. She rose through the ranks, before retiring in 1992 as an associate professor. She would describe and name over 230 new species of bee during her research career, including ''Homalictus exleyea''. She amassed a large collection of bee specimens, in her trips to the tropics of Australia, study visits to museums and institutions throughout the world, including those of Professor Michener's laboratories in Kansas and wrote a number of papers. In the 1980s, she worked on the

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds ...

of crops, in particular

lychee Lychee (US: ; UK: ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the soapberry family, ''Sapindaceae''. It is a tropical tree native to Southeast and Southwest China (the Guangdong, Fujian, Yunn ...

macadamia ''Macadamia'' is a genus of four species of trees in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. They are indigenous to Australia, native to northeastern New South Wales and central and southeastern Queensland specifically. Two species of the gen ...

pigeon pea The pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan'') is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Old World. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in South Asia, Southeas ...

and

custard apple Custard apple is a common name for a fruit and for the tree that bears it, ''Annona reticulata.'' The tree’s fruits vary in shape; they may be heart-shaped, spherical, oblong or irregular. Their size ranges from 7 to 12 cm (2.8 to 4.7 i ...

trees, some in collaboration with

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

. She was head of the Department of Entomology in 1982 at the university, and served on the boards of the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and the Standing Committee of Convocation. She was a member of the Queensland Entomological Society, the

Australian Entomological Society Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

and Queensland Naturalists' Society. Elizabeth Exley died on 1 September 2007 in Brisbane. Her bee collection which is held in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland is estimated as one of the largest in Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exley, Elizabeth 1927 births 2007 deaths Australian entomologists Women entomologists Scientists from Brisbane University of Queensland alumni Academic staff of the University of Queensland 20th-century Australian zoologists