Ronald Vernon Southcott (15 May 1918 in Adelaide – 9 April 1998)[1] was an Australian medical zoologist specializing in Acari, mites and ticks.
After finishing school at St Peter's College, Adelaide Southcott started working on mites, or the acari, at the age of 16 with Herbert Womersley the acarologist at the South Australian Museum.
He produced his outstanding mite papers in the evening after a days' work in Adelaide looking after the medical needs of returned servicemen.
The data used was from the results of the medical examination of schoolchildren in South Australia, and from the routine questionnaires completed by the parents for public health purposes.
Other books he wrote were: Studies on the epidemiology of the 1947/1948 epidemic of poliomyelitis in South Australia / by R. V. Southcott and N. D. Crosby; with the collaboration of N. S. Stenhouse Southcott, R. V [Book : 1949] At University of Sydney Studies of the mortality and morbidity of a series of South Australian based veterans : and the interrelationships between mortality, preceding morbidity, and other factors / by R.V.