Gilbert Percy Whitley

Gilbert Percy Whitley (9 June 1903 – 18 July 1975) was a British-born Australian ichthyologist and malacologist who was curator of fishes at the Australian Museum in Sydney for about 40 years.

Gilbert Percy Whitley was born on 9 June 1903 at Swaythling, Southampton, England, the eldest child of Percy Nathan Whitley and Clara Minnie (née Moass).^[1]

He was educated first at King Edward VI School, Southampton and then Osborne House School in Romsey, Hampshire.^[1]

Whitley migrated with his family to Sydney in 1921.^[1] He started working at the Australian Museum in 1922, while studying zoology at Sydney Technical College and the University of Sydney.^[1]

In 1925 Whitley was formally appointed to the title of ichthyologist (later renamed curator of fishes) at the Museum, a position he held until retirement in 1964. During his term of office he doubled the size of the ichthyological collection to 37,000 specimens through many collecting expeditions.^[1]

After his retirement, another eminent ichthyologist, Frank Talbot, was appointed to his position,^[2] later becoming director of the museum for around 10 years.^[3]

Whitley served as president of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales during 1940–41, 1959–60, and 1973–74, and edited its publications from 1947 to 1971.^[1]

He served on the councils of the Royal Australian Historical Society and the Anthropological Society of New South Wales. He was a member of the Great Barrier Reef Committee, and served as president of the Linnean Society of New South Wales from 1963 to 1964.^[1]

He also had involvement with the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.^[1]

Scholia has a profile for Gilbert Percy Whitley (Q1524045).

• 1934: Elected fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales^[1]
• 1967: Natural History Medallion, by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria^[1]
• 1970: Clarke Medal, by the Royal Society of New South Wales^[1]

Whitley died in Sydney on 18 July 1975.^[1]

The Whitley Awards for zoological literature were named in his honour, established in 1979 by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales^[4] and continuing to this day (as of 2024).^[5]

His zoological author abbreviation was "Whitley".^[6]

• Diaphus whitleyi, Fowler, 1934 is a species of lanternfish found in the Philippines and the Western Central Pacific Ocean.^[7]
• The Bigcheek snailfish, Psednos whitleyi Stein, Chernova & Andriashev, 2001 is a species of snailfish found in the Eastern Indian Ocean.^[8]
• Whitley's boxfish Ostracion whitleyi Fowler, 1931^[9] is a species of boxfish found in the Eastern Central Pacific Ocean.

• See Category:Taxa named by Gilbert Percy Whitley