Walter Garstang | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 9 February 1868 |
| Died | 23 February 1949 (aged 81) |
| Citizenship | British |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Oxford |
| Known for | Chordate evolution Marine invertebrate larvae Zoology poems |
| Spouse | Lucy Ackroyd |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Marine Zoology |
| Institutions | University of Oxford University of Leeds |
Walter Garstang FLS FZS (9 February 1868 – 23 February 1949), a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford and Professor of Zoology at the University of Leeds, was one of the first to study the functional biology of marine invertebrate larvae. His best known works on marine larvae were his poems published as Larval Forms and Other Zoological Verses, especially The Ballad of the Veliger. They describe the form and function of several marine larvae as well as illustrating some controversies in evolutionary biology of the time.[1]
Garstang was known for his vehement opposition to Ernst Haeckel's Biogenetic Law, now discredited. He is also noted for his hypothesis on chordate evolution, known as Garstang's theory, which suggests an alternative route for chordate evolution from echinoderms.[2][3][4] The last-cited reference gives special attention to how the ideas of Garstang's predecessors profoundly influenced his biological theories.
- ^ Garstang W. 1951. Larval Forms and Other Zoological Verses. Blackwell, Oxford. Reprint: University of Chicago Press 1985.
- ^ Garstang, Walter (1 August 1928). "The Morphology of the Tunicata, and its bearings on the Phylogeny of the Chordata". Journal of Cell Science. S2-72 (285): 51–187. doi:10.1242/jcs.s2-72.285.51. ISSN 0021-9533.
- ^ Kardong, Kenneth V. 2006. Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution, Fourth Edition, pp. 72–75.
- ^ Holland, Nicholas D. (1 December 2011). "Walter Garstang: a retrospective". Theory in Biosciences. 130 (4): 247–258. doi:10.1007/s12064-011-0130-3. ISSN 1611-7530. PMID 21833594. S2CID 207378373.