Joseph Jackson Lister FRS (August 3, 1857 – February 5, 1927) was a British zoologist and plant collector from Leytonstone who collected biological specimens during travels in Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific region.

Life

Lister's grandfather was also called Joseph Jackson Lister, and was a pioneer of high quality optical microscopes. Lister's uncle was Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, the pioneer of antiseptic surgery. Lister attended St John's College, Cambridge where he was appointed Demonstrator in Animal Morphology in 1881, and Senior Lecturer in Animal Morphology in 1892. During 1887-1888 he also served as volunteer naturalist on the surveying voyage of HMS Egeria (1873) to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, where he made valuable collections. He is commemorated in the specific epithet of an orchid (Phreatia listeri ), Lister's palm (Arenga listeri ), the Christmas Island lantern flower (Abutilon listeri ), and Lister's gecko (Lepidodactylus listeri ). He is also featured on a 1978 postage stamp of Christmas Island together with Lister's Palm. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1900. His application stated: