A. F. Millidge

Alfred Frank Millidge (1914 – 16 April 2012) was a British arachnologist who specialised in the spider family Linyphiidae. He co-authored the influential three-volume work British Spiders with G. H. Locket and conducted extensive taxonomic research on North American and South American linyphiid spiders.^[1]

Career and research

Millidge conducted research at the American Museum of Natural History, where he published numerous taxonomic studies on linyphiid spiders.^[2] His work focused particularly on the subfamily Erigoninae, and he published a comprehensive series on the erigonine spiders of North America in the Journal of Arachnology between 1980 and 1987.^[3]

His taxonomic work included detailed revisions of several genera, including studies of Walckenaeria, Eperigone, Spirembolus, and Disembolus.^[3]

Millidge also worked extensively on South American linyphiid fauna. His 1985 study described numerous species from Chile and other South American regions,^[2] and his 1991 monograph on South American linyphiids was published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.^[4]

British Spiders

Millidge co-authored the three-volume series British Spiders with G. H. Locket, with the first volume published in 1951 and the second in 1953.^[1] A third volume was later published in 1974 with Peter Merrett as an additional co-author.^[5]

British Arachnological Society

Millidge was involved with the British Arachnological Society, which originated from spider identification courses that he and G. H. Locket conducted in the 1950s.^[6] The society was formally established in 1958 and grew from the earlier Flatford Mill Spider Group.^[6]