Rathbun, Mary Jane

▪ American marine zoologist

born June 11, 1860, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.

died April 4, 1943, Washington, D.C.

      American marine zoologist known for establishing the basic taxonomic information on Crustacea (crustacean).

      In 1881, at the urging of her brother, Richard Rathbun, of the U.S. Fish Commission, she volunteered to work at the Woods Hole Marine Research Center in Massachusetts. Her interest in marine life grew rapidly, and in 1884 she was hired by the U.S. Fish Commission to help organize and catalog its collections. In 1886 she was transferred to the Division of Marine Invertebrates of the National Museum in Washington, D.C. She remained there for 53 years, becoming assistant curator in 1907.

      By 1891 Rathbun began to write scientific articles, primarily concerning crustacean faunas, and she subsequently published more than 158 studies. Most were taxonomic works describing and classifying groups of both recent and fossil marine life. Rathbun has been credited with amassing new taxonomic information on and determining the zoological nomenclature of much of the decapod Crustacea (such as crabs and shrimps). Ecologists and other zoologists have also long relied on her extensive records at the National Museum.

      Her best-known works are four monographs on the grapsoid, spider, cancroid, and oxystomatous crabs, published by the National Museum between 1918 and 1937.

* * *