Ropen-Light Sighting by Evelyn Cheesman

According to Wikipedia, “Lucy Evelyn Cheesman (1881 – 1969) was a British entomologist and traveller” who was the first woman to be hired as a curator at the Regent’s Park Zoo (London, England). Her accomplishments in biological discovery, during her many travels around the world, extended beyond finding new species of insects. The following species were named in her honor:

Lipinia cheesmanae (Parker, 1940) – a skink (lizard);
Platymantis cheesmanae (Parker, 1940) – a direct-breeding frog;
Litoria cheesmani (Tyler, 1964) – a treefrog;
Barygenys cheesmanae (Parker, 1936) – a microhylid frog;
Cophixalus cheesmanae (Parker, 1934) – a microhylid frog.

Her name was probably never associated with cryptozoology until Richard Muirhead (a British cryptozoologist) looked through an old copy of the book The Two Roads of Papua (by Cheesman, published in 1935). Muirhead recognized the significance of the strange lights that Cheesman observed in the jungle on the mainland of New Guinea: apparently ropen lights. Consider what has been written on other web pages and blog posts.

Modern Pterosaurs — “Evelyn Cheesman, Biologist and Eyewitness”

Modern living pterosaurs were the last organisms that she would have dreamed could be living deep in the mainland of New Guinea in the 1930’s; her specialty was small insects, not giant cryptids. But those strange lights just above the forest canopy—they appeared to defy any common explanation.

Live Pterosaur — “Indava and Ropen of Papua New Guinea”

The British entomologist would surely have been interested in the explanation of “large flying animal” if the local villagers had said anything; but they were reluctant to talk about the lights. Nevertheless, Cheeman wrote about the mystery in her book, The Two Roads of Papua (published in 1935).

Another resource: Science and Clear Thinking (reg. critics of living-pterosaurs perspectives)