Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick

Background

Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick Jr. was born on March 8, 1932, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick and Ethel Beatrice Sanders Fitzpatrick. His professional life remained closely connected with the natural history of the southeastern United States, particularly the freshwater crayfish of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and neighboring regions. He served in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954 before completing his university education and beginning an academic career in zoology and biology.

Education

Fitzpatrick studied zoology at Tulane University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1959 and a Master of Science degree in 1961. He then completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in biology at the University of Virginia in 1964. His academic training led to a career combining university teaching with systematic, ecological, and field research on freshwater decapod crustaceans.

Career

Fitzpatrick began his academic career as an instructor in zoology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1964. During the same year he joined Mississippi State University as an assistant professor of zoology, remaining there until 1969. From 1969 to 1973 he was an associate professor of biology at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, followed by service as an associate professor of biology at the University of South Alabama in Mobile from 1973 to 1978. He became a professor of biology there in 1978 and continued until his retirement in 1998, completing approximately twenty-five years at the institution. His teaching and research centered on ecology, evolution, organismic biology, and decapod crustaceans, with much of his research devoted to freshwater crayfish systematics, distribution, and conservation. In 1991 he became an adjunct curator of crustaceans at the Tulane University Museum of Natural History, where he helped preserve, organize, and catalog the decapod collection. In 1994 he also held an adjunct professorship in ecology, evolution, and organismic biology at Tulane University. He worked as a consultant in addition to his academic and museum activities.

Achievements

• Founded the International Association of Astacology.

• Made sustained contributions to the taxonomy, ecology, distribution, and conservation of freshwater crayfish, including descriptions and revisions of numerous North American taxa.

• Helped preserve, organize, and catalog the decapod crustacean collection of the Tulane University Museum of Natural History.

Works

• article

  • Redescription of Cambaroides japonicus (De Haan, 1841) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Cambaridae) with Allocation of a Type Locality and Month of Collection of Types

    (Co-authored with Tadashi Kawai and published posthumously...)

    2004

  • A new crawfish of the genus Oromectes from the headwaters of the White River in Arkansas (Decapoda, Astacidae)

    (Research article published in Proceedings of the Biologic...)

    1966

  • A new crawfish of the Cristatus section of the genus Cambarus from Mississippi (Decapoda, Astacidae)

    (Research article published in Proceedings of the Biologic...)

    1967

  • A New Burrowing Crayfish of the Genus Cambarus from Southwest Alabama, U.S.A. (Decapoda: Cambaridae)

    (Research article published in Proceedings of the Biologic...)

    1978

  • The Subgenera of the Crawfish Genus Orconectes (Decapoda: Cambaridae)

    (Taxonomic study published in Proceedings of the Biologica...)

    1987

  • The Cahaba River of Alabama: A Microcosm of Impact Studies

    (Contribution published in Freshwater Crayfish 11: A Journ...)

    1997

  • The Pre-Pliocene Tennessee River and Its Bearing on Crawfish Distribution (Decapoda, Cambaridae)

    (Article published in Brimleyana, volume 12, pages 123–146.)

    1986

  • A New Dwarf Crayfish from Southwest Alabama and Adjacent Mississippi, U.S.A. (Decapoda: Cambaridae: Cambarellinae)

    (Co-authored with Barbara A. Laning and published in Proce...)

    1976

  • A New Crayfish of the Genus Fallicambarus from Tennessee (Decapoda, Astacidae)

    (Co-authored with Horton H. Hobbs Jr. and published in Pro...)

    1970

  • A New Crawfish of the Genus Distocambarus, Subgenus Fitzcambarus

    (Co-authored with Arnold G. Eversole and published in Proc...)

    1997

  • A New Crawfish of the Genus Procambarus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Cambaridae) from Central Texas

    (Co-authored with Mary K. Wicksten and published in Procee...)

    1998

  • A new genus and species of crawfish from the southeastern United States (Decapoda, Astacidae)

    (Co-authored with J. F. Payne and published in Proceedings...)

    1968

  • A new crawfish of the genus Orconectes from eastern New York (Decapoda: Astacidae)

    (Co-authored with J. F. Pickett and published in Proceedin...)

    1980

  • Hobbseus yalobushensis, a New Crawfish from Central Mississippi (Decapoda: Cambaridae)

    (Co-authored with C. A. Busack and published in Proceeding...)

    1989

• Field guide

  • How to Know the Freshwater Crustacea/Aquatic Insects/Protozoa/Freshwater Algae

    (Book in The Pictured Key Nature Series.)

    1983

• report

  • Rare and Endangered Species of Mississippi: Volume I: Crawfishes and Shrimps

    (Work on the conservation status of Mississippi crayfishes...)

    1992

Membership

Fitzpatrick was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and belonged to Phi Sigma and Sigma Xi. He founded the International Association of Astacology and the Crustacean Society, helping establish professional organizations devoted to the study of crayfish and other crustaceans. His professional associations also included participation in research and conservation activities concerning freshwater crustacean biodiversity.

• Fellow.

  American Association for the Advancement of Science

• Founder.

  International Association of Astacology

• Founder.

  Crustacean Society

• Phi Sigma

• Sigma Xi

Interests

• Freshwater crayfish, natural-history collections, field studies, species distribution, conservation biology, and the history of biological thought.

Connections

Fitzpatrick was the son of Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick and Ethel Beatrice Sanders Fitzpatrick. He was married first to Sarah Lynn Ebersole and later to Barbara L. Fitzpatrick. His children included Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick III, Kathleen A. Fitzpatrick, Eileen E. Fitzpatrick, Daniel T. Fitzpatrick, and Stephen F. Fitzpatrick.

Father:

Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick

Father.

Mother:

Ethel Beatrice Sanders Fitzpatrick

Mother.

Spouse:

Sarah Lynn Ebersole

First wife; the marriage ended in divorce.

Spouse:

Barbara L. Fitzpatrick

Second wife.

child:

Joseph Ferris Fitzpatrick III

Son.

child:

Kathleen A. Fitzpatrick

Daughter.

child:

Eileen E. Fitzpatrick

Daughter.

child:

Daniel T. Fitzpatrick

Son.

child:

Stephen F. Fitzpatrick

Son.

References

• Louisiana State University Libraries, Fitzpatrick (Joseph F., Jr.) Papers Archival finding aid documenting Fitzpatrick's life, education, teaching career, research on freshwater crayfish, professional organizations, family, manuscripts, field notes, specimen catalogues, and correspondence.
• Biodiversity Heritage Library: Joseph F. Fitzpatrick Jr. author record Bibliographic author record listing Fitzpatrick's articles on crayfish taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, and crustacean research.