Lyndsay McLaren Forster (née Clifford; 19 September 1925 – 20 January 2009) was a New Zealand arachnologist.
Biography
Forster was born in
Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city cent ...
and grew up on a small farm near
Feilding
Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council.
Feilding has ...
. She enrolled at
Victoria University College
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well k ...
in Wellington but moved to Christchurch in 1948 without completing her degree. She moved again to Dunedin in 1957; in the late 1960s she returned to her university studies and eventually completed a
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at the
University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
in 1979.
Forster was a lecturer in zoology at the University of Otago, and also carried out research and wrote papers and books on spiders. Her work focused on jumping spiders, and on
white-tailed spider
White-tailed spiders are spiders native to southern and eastern Australia, and so named because of the whitish tips at the end of their abdomens. The body size is up to 18 mm, with a leg-span of 28 mm. Common species are ''Lampona cy ...
s and
Australian redback spiders. In addition, she worked at the
Otago Museum
Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...
designing and creating displays of spiders, and running educational programmes on spiders for children.
Forster was also an active member of the Otago Institute (the Otago branch of the
Royal Society of New Zealand
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); in 1990 she was elected president, the first woman to hold the position.
Personal life
In 1948 Forster married fellow scientist
Ray Forster. The couple had four children together.
Publications
*
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Lyn
1925 births
2009 deaths
New Zealand arachnologists
University of Otago alumni
People from Upper Hutt
Victoria University of Wellington alumni
University of Otago faculty
20th-century New Zealand women scientists
People associated with Otago Museum
20th-century New Zealand zoologists