Person
Tyndale-Biscoe, Marina (1936 - 2025)
- Born
- 27 January 1936
Budapest, Hungary - Died
- 12 July 2025
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia - Occupation
- Conservationist and Entomologist
- Alternative Names
- Szokoloczi, Marina (maiden name)
Summary
Marina Tyndale-Biscoe was an entomologist who, during her early career, studied chitons, aphids and pebble crabs. She turned to entomology on joining the CSIRO Division of Entomology in 1973. Here she was a member of the team involved in the dung beetle project. Under this successful program, foreign dung beetles were introduced to Australia to control bushflies in southeast Australia and Tasmania. Tyndale-Biscoe published a number of papers stemming from this research. Her book Common dung beetles in pastures of south-eastern Australia (1990), described the features and distribution of the most successful introduced species, allowing farmers to select the best beetles for their area. Having been made redundant in 1992, she returned to the Division part-time to participate in the Double Helix Project, under which children were encouraged to identify beetles found on their properties. This enabled the plotting of distribution of introduced species. In 1980 Tyndale-Biscoe and her family bought a property on the Mongarlowe River, near Braidwood. She was a founding member of the Friends of Mongarlowe River. Her evidence of the presence of two endangered species, the long-nosed potoroo (Perameles nasuta) and the tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), which was crucial in supporting the establishment of Monga National Park.
Details
Chronology
- 1949
- Life event - Migrated to Tasmania with her family
- 1958
- Education - BSc (hons), University of Tasmania
- 1959
- Career position - Demonstrator, Waite Agricultural Research Institute
- 1960 - 1961
- Career position - Researcher, Western Australian Museum
- 1965 - 1970
- Career position - Entomologist, CSIRO Division of Entomology
- 1980
- Life event - Foundation Member, Friends of Mongarlowe River
- 1983 - 1992
- Career position - Entomologist, CSIRO Division of Entomologist
- 1985
- Education - PhD, James Cook University of North Queensland
- 1990
- Publication - Common dung beetles in pastures of southeastern Australia
Related entries
Spouse
Published resources
Books
- Tyndale-Biscoe, Marina, Common dung beetles in pastures of south-eastern Australia (East Melbourne: CSIRO, 1990), 71 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Saunders, Denis A., 'Tribute to Dr Marina Tyndale-Biscoe (neé Szokoloczi); entomologist and conservationist (27 January 1936 - 12 July 2025)', Pacific conservation biology, 31 (2025), 1-3, https://doi.org/0.1071/PC25058. Details
- Tyndale-Biscoe, M. and Vogt, W. G., 'Population status of the bush fly, Musca vetustissima (Diptera: Muscidae), and native dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in south-eastern Australia in relation to establishment of exotic dung beetles', Bulletin of entomological research, 86 (2) (1996), 183-92, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485300052433. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 23 July 2026