Frederick Arthur Godfrey Muir
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Frederick Arthur Godfrey Muir (24 April 1873 – 13 May 1931) was an English entomologist who worked in Africa and Hawaii. He wrote extensively describing many new species of insect and establishing the family Kinnaridae. He was also a pioneer of biological control.


Biography

Muir was born in Clapham, London to Joseph Alexander and Annie Marie (Lempriere) Muir. He studied in private schools and worked for ten years in Africa with the Eastern Telegraph Company from 1886 to 1905. He took an interest in insects and was encouraged by David Sharp and joined the experimental station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association at Honolulu in 1905 and worked extensively on insects, especially those that suck sap in the superfamily
Fulgoroidea A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, a group exceeding 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment ...
. He initially worked under
Robert Cyril Layton Perkins Robert Cyril Layton Perkins FRS (15 November 1866 – 29 September 1955) was a distinguished British entomologist, ornithologist, and naturalist noted for his work on the fauna of the islands of Hawaii and on Hymenoptera. He is not to be co ...
where he continued the work of
Albert Koebele Albert Koebele (28 February 1853 - 28 December 1924) was an economic entomologist and a pioneer in the use of biological controls to manage insect pests. Early career Koebele was born in Waldkirch, Germany, in 1853. There are no details about ...
on the destructive ''
Perkinsiella saccharicida ''Perkinsiella saccharicida'' (known commonly as the sugarcane planthopper, sugarcane delphacid, and sugarcane leafhopper) is a species of delphacid planthopper in the family Delphacidae Delphacidae is a family of planthoppers containing abo ...
''. Work included travel to Southeast Asia to seek parasites to control the pests of cane in Hawaii. In 1913 he visited Japan to seek parasites for the root grub ''
Anomala orientalis ''Anomala orientalis'' (Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Exomala orientalis''), also known as the oriental beetle (OB), is a species of Rutelinae (shining leaf chafers) in the family Scarabaeidae. It is a beetle about 0.7 - 1.1 cm (0.3 - 0.4 in ...
'' which was causing great damage to sugar cane. He published extensively, with over 100 scientific papers and was a Fellow of the
Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...
. He was an authority on the leaf-hopper family
Delphacidae Delphacidae is a family of planthoppers containing about 2000 species, distributed worldwide. Delphacids are separated from other "hoppers" by the prominent spur on the Tibia (arthropod leg), tibia of the hindleg. Diet and pest species All speci ...
. Muir conducted pioneering experiments on biological control, mass-rearing along with J.C. Kershaw, and introducing, the tachinid fly '' Ceromasia sphenophori'' into Hawaii. He married Margaret Annie Sharp (daughter of David Sharp) in April 1918 and they had a son.


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Portrait
{{authority control English entomologists 1873 births 1931 deaths