started the first attempt to organize and classify mainly the Mexican echinoderm
fauna into a comprehensive scientific collection. Dr. Maria Elena Caso began a
series of taxonomic studies that lasted for more than 50 years and that resulted in
more than 50 papers.
Maria Elena Caso Muñoz (Fig. 2.2) was born in Mexico City (December 18,
1915). She was the daughter of Antonio Caso (a noted Mexican philosopher
and rector of the former Universidad Nacional de Mexico, now the National
Autonomous University of Mexico) and Josefina Muñoz. Maria Elena childhood
was in a warm and loving family environment. The end of the Spanish Civil War,
with Franco’s victory in 1939, sparked the start of one of the most dramatic
exoduses in contemporary history. Exiled scientists carried out tremendously
important work in the countries offering them asylum, helping to promote scientific and technological progress. Enrique Rioja Lo-Bianco arrived to Mexico in
1939 to work at the Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional de Mexico
(UNAM). There, Ma. Elena Caso fell under the tutelage of Enrique Rioja and
immediately started the systematic study of the Mexican echinoderms by collecting specimens from Mexican waters, initiating the Mexican Echinoderm
National Collection (MENC).
She studied in the Faculty of Sciences at the UNAM (Mexico City) (1937–1940)
where she obtained her Masters degree in 1943. In 1961 she received the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy at the same University, presenting a thesis on the present
knowledge of the Mexican echinoderm fauna. In the course of her career she
published 56 papers on echinoderms and one book honoring Rioja’s scientific
endeavor. She described eleven new taxa (five species, one subfamily, one subgenus
and two varieties). It was Ma. Elena Caso’s intention to provide for
Fig. 2.2 Maria Elena Caso
Muñoz (December 1915–
October 1991)
16
F. A. Solís-Marín et al.
fauna into a comprehensive scientific collection. Dr. Maria Elena Caso began a
series of taxonomic studies that lasted for more than 50 years and that resulted in
more than 50 papers.
Maria Elena Caso Muñoz (Fig. 2.2) was born in Mexico City (December 18,
1915). She was the daughter of Antonio Caso (a noted Mexican philosopher
and rector of the former Universidad Nacional de Mexico, now the National
Autonomous University of Mexico) and Josefina Muñoz. Maria Elena childhood
was in a warm and loving family environment. The end of the Spanish Civil War,
with Franco’s victory in 1939, sparked the start of one of the most dramatic
exoduses in contemporary history. Exiled scientists carried out tremendously
important work in the countries offering them asylum, helping to promote scientific and technological progress. Enrique Rioja Lo-Bianco arrived to Mexico in
1939 to work at the Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional de Mexico
(UNAM). There, Ma. Elena Caso fell under the tutelage of Enrique Rioja and
immediately started the systematic study of the Mexican echinoderms by collecting specimens from Mexican waters, initiating the Mexican Echinoderm
National Collection (MENC).
She studied in the Faculty of Sciences at the UNAM (Mexico City) (1937–1940)
where she obtained her Masters degree in 1943. In 1961 she received the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy at the same University, presenting a thesis on the present
knowledge of the Mexican echinoderm fauna. In the course of her career she
published 56 papers on echinoderms and one book honoring Rioja’s scientific
endeavor. She described eleven new taxa (five species, one subfamily, one subgenus
and two varieties). It was Ma. Elena Caso’s intention to provide for
Fig. 2.2 Maria Elena Caso
Muñoz (December 1915–
October 1991)
16
F. A. Solís-Marín et al.