She was the only child of Hinemoa C C Hopkins, a lawyer, and David James Richards, a university mathematics professor from Wales.
[2][3] Richards attended Queen Margaret's College[4] then Samuel Marsden Collegiate School for Girls in Wellington.
[6][5] Richards worked at the Plant Diseases Division of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research[8] in Auckland before moving to Australia.
[17] Richards inspired the study of the animals that live in caves in Tasmania[18] and her species descriptions contributed to conservation efforts.
Her taxonomic work[15] is highly cited and her studies of feeding biology revealed novel plant-insect interactions.