Dr Michael Robert Blair Gray (25 August 1941- 28 July 2023) was an arachnologist who specialised in the taxonomy of spiders at the Australian Museum in Sydney with a particular interest in the systematics of Australian funnel-web spiders (Atracidae).

Dr

Michael R. Gray

PhD
Mike Gray at Jenolan Caves, NSW 2018
Born(1941-08-25)25 August 1941
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Died28 July 2023(2023-07-28) (aged 81)
Katoomba, New South Wales
EducationWesley College, Perth
Alma materUniversity of Western Australia, Macquarie University
SpouseGreta Gray (nee Jensen)
ChildrenEmma Gray, Anna Gray
Scientific career
FieldsArachnology
InstitutionsAustralian Museum
ThesisA Systematic Study of the Funnel Web Spiders (Mygalomorphae: Hexathelidae Atracinae) (1986)
Doctoral advisorDr Dinah Hales, Dr David Briscoe, Dr Courtenay Smithers

Biography

Early life

Gray was born to Dorothy Dean Gray (nee Sweeting) and Dr William Blair Christie Gray in Kensington, Western Australia. Gray grew up in Perth, Western Australia and attended Wesley College, Perth.[1][2]

Education

In 1968, Gray received a Master of Science with the Zoology Department of the University of Western Australia supervised by Barbara York Main. His thesis was titled: Comparison of Three Genera of Trapdoor Spiders (Ctenizidae, Aganippini) with Respect to Survival under Arid Conditions.[3][4]

In 1986, Gray was awarded a PhD through Macquarie University. His thesis titled: A Systematic Study of the Funnel Web Spiders (Mygalomorphae: Hexathelidae: Atracinae).[5]

Personal life

While at the Museum, Gray met his wife-to-be, Greta Jensen, who was at that time employed in the Marine Invertebrates section. They married in 1970 and went on to have two children, Emma and Anna.[4]

Career

Gray started at the Australian Museum as an Assistant Curator (Arachnology) in 1968 when the Arachnology collection was separated from Entomology. By 2003, Gray had progressed to the position of Principal Research Scientist.[6][4]

Gray's research interests included the systematics of Australian funnel-web spiders (Atracidae).[7]

Of particular public interest along with Gray’s funnel-web work, was a series of five papers co-authored with physician Geoff Isbister relating to spider bites.[4][8][9][10]

This work debunked the myth of the flesh-eating necrosis caused by the bite of Australian White-tailed spider (Lampona spp.) The White-tailed Spider bite paper saw Isbister and Gray nominated as finalists in 2004 Australian Skeptics Eureka Prize for Critical Thinking.[11][12]

Cave spiders were another research interest, with Gray undertaking fieldwork in Jenolan Caves, Wombeyan Caves and caves on the Nullarbor Plain.[13][14][15][16]

Notable surveys Gray was involved in include the World Heritage Rainforests Survey with the Queensland Museum, the Lord Howe Island Survey, and the North East Forests Biodiversity Survey with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.[4]

Equally important to his research was public engagement. Throughout his career, Gray was regularly interviewed by media outlets. Through these interviews he tried to educate and build public interest in spiders. In 1997, Gray curated the Spiders! exhibition at the Australian Museum.[17][4]

Gray was active on a number of scientific committees and societies, including the Jenolan Caves Scientific Advisory Committee, the Australian Venoms Research Council, and the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Gray played an active role in the Linnean Society, starting as a member in 1981, then elected to council in 1988, and as President from 2012–2013. Gray also served as Chair of the Joyce Vickery Scientific Research Fund grants committee for the Linnean Society.[4]

Gray supervised a number of Honours, Masters, and PhD students and was an Honorary Associate in the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Agriculture Food and Natural Resources at the University of Sydney. Gray became a mentor to Graham Wishart, a retired pharmacist who took an interest in the Trapdoor spiders. Wishart published several papers on the trapdoor spider fauna of New South Wales.[18][19][20][4]

Gray retired in 2009 and in 2010, as a retired fellow of the Australian Museum, published his PhD thesis findings A revision of the Australian funnel-web spiders (Hexathelidae: Atracinae).[21][4]

Gray's field work has resulted in almost 11,000 specimen lots registered in the Australian Museum database under his name. Gray introduced contemporary curatorial techniques and standards to registering arachnology specimens at the Australian Museum. In 1977, with the support of an assistant, he started databasing specimens. By 1990, 28,000 specimens had been recorded. As of 2023, over 131,000 arachnological specimens are represented in the Australian Museum database.[4]

Publications

See also

  • Taxa named by Michael R.Gray

References

  1. ↑ "Family Notices". West Australian. 1941-08-28. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  2. ↑ "Wesley Crew Receives A Setback". West Australian. 1954-04-14. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  3. ↑ Gray, Michael R (1968). Comparison of Three Genera of Trapdoor Spiders (Ctenizidae, Aganippini) with Respect to Survival under Arid Conditions. University of Western Australia.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Smith, Helen (September 2023). "Vale Michael R.B. Gray 25 August 1941 - 28 July 2023" (PDF). LinnSoc News - Newsletter of the Linnean Society of NSW (190): 4–6.
  5. ↑ Gray, Michael R (1986). A systematic study of the funnel web spiders (Mygalomorphae: Hexathelidae: Atracinae). Macquarie University.
  6. ↑ Strahan, Ronald; Branagan, David F. (1979). Rare and curious specimens : an illustrated history of the Australian Museum, 1827-1979 (PDF). Australian Museum. ISBN 0724015248.
  7. ↑ Gray, M.R. (1978). "Notes on the taxonomy and distribution of funnel web spiders Genus Atrax". Handbook of experimental pharmacology. 48. ISSN 0171-2004. Wikidata Q123746158.
  8. ↑ Isbister GK; Churchill TB; Hirst DB; Gray MR; Currie BJ (1 January 2001). "Clinical effects of bites from formally identified spiders in tropical Northern Territory". Medical Journal of Australia. 174 (2): 79–82. doi:10.5694/J.1326-5377.2001.TB143159.X. ISSN 0025-729X. PMID 11245508. Wikidata Q39095508.
  9. ↑ G K Isbister; M R Gray (November 2002). "A prospective study of 750 definite spider bites, with expert spider identification". QJM. 95 (11): 723–31. doi:10.1093/QJMED/95.11.723. ISSN 1460-2725. PMID 12391384. Wikidata Q28209039.
  10. ↑ Isbister GK; Gray MR (1 May 2004). "Black house spiders are unlikely culprits in necrotic arachnidism: a prospective study". Internal Medicine Journal. 34 (5): 287–289. doi:10.1111/J.1444-0903.2004.00562.X. ISSN 1444-0903. PMID 15151676. Wikidata Q80106511.
  11. ↑ Allison, L (2003). "Spider bite not so bad Study clears white-tail's sting". Herald. Newcastle, NSW. p. 14. ProQuest 364871541.
  12. ↑ Kelly, Alice (23 July 2004). "Medical wisdom bitten by proof of spider's innocence". Newcastle Herald. p. 20. ProQuest 364914477. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  13. ↑ Gray, M.R. (September 1973). "CAVERNICOLOUS SPIDERS FROM THE NULLARBOR PLAIN AND SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA". Austral Entomology. 12 (3): 207–221. doi:10.1111/J.1440-6055.1973.TB01661.X. ISSN 1326-6756. Wikidata Q99656009.
  14. ↑ Gray, M.R. (1992). "The troglobitic spider genus Tartarus Gray with a cladistic analysis of Tartarus and Baiami Lehtinen (Araneae: Stiphidiidae)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 113: 165–173. ISSN 0370-047X. Wikidata Q123745775.
  15. ↑ Gray, M.R. (1993). "The cavernicolous Arachnida and Myriapoda of Cape Range, Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement. 45. ISSN 0313-122X. Wikidata Q123746160.
  16. ↑ Gray, M.R. (2001). "New lycosoid spiders from cave and surface habitats in southern Australia and Cape Range peninsula (Araneae: Lycosoidea)" (PDF). Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement. 64 (1): 159–170. doi:10.18195/ISSN.0313-122X.64.2001.159-170. ISSN 0313-122X. Wikidata Q99573794.
  17. ↑ "Australian Museum Exhibitions TimeLine". Australian Museum. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  18. ↑ Graham Wishart (1992). "New species of the trapdoor spider genus Misgolas Karsch (Mygalomorphae: Idiopidae) with a review of the tube-building species" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 44 (3): 263–278. doi:10.3853/J.0067-1975.44.1992.35. ISSN 0067-1975. Wikidata Q92173316.
  19. ↑ Robert J. Raven; Graham Wishart (2006). "The trapdoor spider Arbanitis L. Koch (Idiopidae: Mygalomorphae) in Australia" (PDF). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Nature. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 51: 531–557. ISSN 0079-8835. Wikidata Q110404264.
  20. ↑ Graham Wishart (2006). "Trapdoor spiders of the genus Misgolas (Mygalomorphae: Idiopidae) in the Sydney region, Australia, with notes on synonymies attributed to M. rapax" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 58 (1): 1–18. doi:10.3853/J.0067-1975.58.2006.1446. ISSN 0067-1975. Wikidata Q92173773.
  21. ↑ Gray, Michael R. (2010-11-24). "A revision of the Australian funnel-web spiders (Hexathelidae: Atracinae)". Records of the Australian Museum. 62 (3): 285–392. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.62.2010.1556.
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