Reginald Frederick Lawrence FRSSAf (6 March 1897 in

George, Western Cape George is the second largest city in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The city is a popular holiday and conference centre, as well as the administrative and commercial hub and the seat of the Garden Route District Municipality. It is n ...

– 9 October 1987 in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

) was a South African

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of s ...

and

myriapodologist Myriapodology is the scientific study of myriapods which includes centipedes and millipedes. The field of myriapodology can also cover other myriapods such as pauropods and symphylans. Those who study myriapods are myriapodologists. Societies * In ...

at the South African Museum in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

from 1922 until 1935, director of the

Natal Museum NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in Pietermaritzburg from 1935 until 1948 and a researcher and staff member of the same museum until 1986.

Career

Lawrence was educated at

St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown , motto_translation = Difficulties do not dismay us , patron = St. Andrew , established = , schooltype = All-boys private school , grades = 812 , head_name ...

from 1908 to 1913. He studied at the

South African College The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African College Schools (SACS). History The process that would lead to the formation of th ...

(now

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

), where he graduated with his B.Sc. in 1922. His studies had been interrupted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, when he served with the infantry in France. He joined the staff of the South African Museum in 1922 as assistant in charge of

Arachnida Arachnida () is a Class (biology), class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, came ...

. While in the staff of the museum, he made several collecting expeditions in the southern part of the continent. His collection of arachnids formed the basis for the research upon which he received his Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town in 1928. He was appointed director of the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg in 1935, a position he gave up in 1948 in order to spend more time on research. He collected in forests from the southern Cape to the

Limpopo River The Limpopo River rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mount ...

, and from the coast of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

in the east, to

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...

in the west. He also collected in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...

South-West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola ( Portuguese colony before ...

, and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

(then southern Rhodesia).

Personal life

Lawrence married Ella Thompson Pratt Yule.

Legacy

Lawrence is commemorated in the scientific names of two species of southern African lizards, ''

Lygodactylus lawrencei Lawrence's dwarf gecko (''Lygodactylus lawrencei'') is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to Southern Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''lawrencei'', is in honor of South African entomologist Reginald Freder ...

'' and ''

Namazonurus lawrenci Lawrence's girdled lizard (''Namazonurus lawrenci'') is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is endemic to South Africa.World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1996.''Cordylus lawrenci '' 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ...

''.

Publications

The following list is from Museu Nacional Rio de Janeiro.Reginald Frederick LAWRENCE - papers on Opiliones
March 28, 2013. *Lawrence, R.F. (1931). The Harvest-Spiders (Opiliones) of South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum, Cape Town, 29(2), 341–508.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1933). The Harvest-Spiders (Opiliones) of Natal. Annals of the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, 7(2), 211–241, 9 figs.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1934). (New South African Opiliones. Annals of the South African Museum, Cape Town, 30(4), 549–586, 19 figs.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1937a). A collection of Arachnida from Zululand. Annals of the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, 8(2), 211–273, 30 figs. *Lawrence, R.F. (1937b). A stridulating organ in harvest-spiders. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, (10) 20, 364–369.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1937c). New harvest spiders from Natal and Zululand. Annals of the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, 8(2), 127–153, 11 fig. *Lawrence, R.F. (1937d). The external sexual characteristics of South African harvest-spiders. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, Cape Town, 24(4), 331–337, 2 pl.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1938a) Harvest-spiders of Natal and Zululand. Annals of the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, 8(3), 345–371. ssued April, 1938 *Lawrence, R.F. (1938b). The odoriferous glands of some South African harvest-spiders. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, Cape Town, 25(4), 333–342. *Lawrence, R.F. (1939). A contribution to the Opilionid fauna of Natal and Zululand. Annals of the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, 9(2), 225–243. *Lawrence, R.F. (1947a). A collection of Arachnida made by Dr. I. Trägårdh in Natal and Zululand (1904–1905). Göteborgs Kungl. Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets- Samhälles Handlingar, (6 B) 5(9), 1–41.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1947b). Opiliones from the Ivory Coast of West Africa collected by R. Paulian and C. Delamare-Deboutteville. Revue française d'entomologie, Paris, 14(1), 34–46. *Lawrence, R.F. (1949). A collection of Opiliones and Scorpions from North-East Angola made by Dr. A. de Barros Machado in 1948. Publicações culturais Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), Serviços Culturais, Dundo-Luanda-Angola-Lisboa, 1949, 1–20. *Lawrence, R.F. (1951). A further collection of opiliones from Angola made by Dr. A. de Barros Machado in 1948–1949. Publicações culturais Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), Serviços Culturais, Dundo-Luanda-Angola-Lisboa, 13, 29–44, 4 figs. *Lawrence, R.F. (1952). A collection of cavernicolous and termitophilous Arachnida from the Belgian Congo. Revue de zoologie et de botanique africaines, 46, 1–17, 9 figs. *Lawrence, R.F. (1953). The Biology of the Cryptic Fauna of Forests. *Lawrence, R.F. (1957a). A third collection of opiliones from Angola. Publicações culturais Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), Serviços Culturais, Dundo-Luanda-Angola-Lisboa, 34, 51–66, 3 figs. *Lawrence, R.F. (1957b). The Opiliones collected by Dr. A. de Barros Machado in the Belgian Congo during 1953 and 1955. Revue de zoologie et de botanique africaines, 56(1–2), 151–166, 4 figs. *Lawrence, R.F. (1958). A collection of cavernicolous Arachnida from French Equatorial Africa. Revue suisse de Zoologie, 65(4), 857–866, 3 figs.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1959). Arachnides-Opilions. Faune de Madagascar, Publications de L’Institut de Recherche Scientifique Tananarive – Tsimbazaza, 9, 1–121, 35 figs.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1962a). The significance of cave-living animals in the study of zoogeography. Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums, 2, 206–211.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1962b). LXXIV.- Opiliones. In: Resultats scientifiques des missions zoologiques de l`IRSAC en Afrique orientale - (P. Basilewsky et N. Leleup, 1957). Annales Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, (Sciences zoologiques) 110, 9–89, figs. 1–136.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1963). The Opiliones of the Transvaal. Annals of the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, 24, 275–304.
Pdf
*Lawrence, R.F. (1964). A small collection of Opiliones from the Ivory Coast of West Africa. Bulletin du Museum National d'histoire naturelle,Paris, (2) 36, 797–811, 19 figs. *Lawrence, R.F. (1984). The Centipedes and Millipedes of Southern Africa: a Guide.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Reginald Frederick 1897 births 1987 deaths 20th-century South African zoologists Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown University of Cape Town alumni Myriapodologists Arachnologists