Arthur Dendy

Arthur Dendy (20 January 1865, in Manchester – 24 March 1925, in London) was an English zoologist known for his work on marine sponges and the terrestrial invertebrates of Victoria, Australia, notably including the "living fossil" Peripatus.

He was in turn professor of zoology in New Zealand, in South Africa and finally at King's College London.

He worked on part of the report of the Challenger expedition (1872–1876), describing monaxonid sponges.

Eventually Dendy became a leading authority on the sponge phylum, (Porifera), which he extensively restructured.

These included terrestrial flatworms (planarians) and nemerteans, but the most famous of his animals was the so-called "living fossil" Peripatus.

[2] While in New Zealand, Dendy coined the term "cryptozoic fauna" to refer to animals which live in environments like leaf litter, under rocks, and so on.