Charles Frost (naturalist)

Charles Frost (c. 1853 – 1915) was an Australian author and collector of reptiles, frequently associated with the works of Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas.

[1] Frost published descriptions of new taxa with the more well known author Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas and undertook collecting expeditions to obtain specimens of reptiles, birds and spiders.

He had no formal education in the natural sciences, however, Frost was a member of the Linnean Society and used the post-nominal F.L.S.

As co-author he assisted in compiling catalogues and descriptions of reptiles that became standard sources for the contemporary research of herpetology.

[1] He was the sole author of several short works, including two papers in 1888 and 1890 on the results of his experiments on the toxicity of Latrodectus species in Victoria,[2] known as the red-back spider, prompted by claims of T. S. Ralph in his presentation on the New Zealand Latrodectus katipo at an earlier meeting of the Victorian Naturalist Society.