FNZ 47 - Erotylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) - Contributor notes
Leschen, RAB 2003. Erotylidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea): phylogeny and review. Fauna of New Zealand 47, 108 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
47.
ISBN 0-478-09350-0 (print),
).
Published 05 Jun 2003
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/F7BD20B2-D210-4D51-9CB2-1BC51DF75F2C
Contributor notes
Contributor Rich Leschen was born in Newport, Arkansas, a small rural community in the southern United States, and raised in the large city of St Louis, Missouri. He spent his early life interested in paleontology, herpetology, and music. After graduating from Southwest Missouri State University (Springfield) with a major in biology and a minor in geology, he worked as a soil consultant, during which time fieldwork helped him develop interests in edible mushrooms and bird watching. Missing academic pursuits, he eventually began a Masters program at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), and started work that would form the basis for his ongoing studies on the systematics, evolution, and ecology of mycophagous Coleoptera. His Masters project was a list of the fungus-feeding Coleoptera of Arkansas, and much of his time was spent collecting beetles and becoming familiar with the North American fauna. After completing his Masters he went to University of Kansas to work on the systematics of Cryptophagidae, but spending more time working on other groups, including other members of Cucujoidea (e.g., Erotylidae) and Staphylinoidea (scaphidiine staphylinids). This work was facilitated by a curatorial assistant position at the Snow Entomological Museum that allowed Rich to be more broadly trained in the identification and systematics of world Coleoptera and to collect beetles throughout Latin America. Several grants allowed him to visit museums in North America, Europe, and Latin America. After a 2-year period of being unemployed and periodically teaching systematics at Michigan State University (Lansing) he joined Landcare Research, Auckland. He maintains a high level of academic interest in Coleoptera systematics and involvement with the local and international beetle community; his main objectives being to produce useful beetle classifications and to promote the study of natural history, especially systematics and taxonomy. Apart from his systematics career, he maintains an interest in improvisational acoustic music, and combines western folk and classical Indian influences into a unique guitar style.
I whānau mai te kaituhi, a Rich Leschen, i Newport, he paenoho tāngata i te taiwhenua, rohe o Arkansas, i te taha tonga o Amerika. Ka tipu ake ia i te tāone nui o St Louis, i Missouri. Ko te mātai mātātoka, te mātai ngārara, nukuwai, me te puoro ngā kaupapa i ngākau nuitia e ia i ōna tau tuatahi i te whare wānanga. Nōna ka whiwhi i tana tohu paetahi (ko te koiora te kaupapa mātāmua, ko te tātai arowhenua te kaupapa mātāmuri) i te Whare Wānanga o te Rohe Nui o Missouri ki te Uru-mā-tonga (i Springfield), ka haere hei mātanga oneone. I roto i āna mahi tirotiro oneone, ka tīmata tana aro nui ki ngā harore e taea ana te kai, me te mātakitaki manu. Ka mea ā, ka tupu ake te hiahia ki te whāwhā anō i ngā mahi whare wānanga. Ka tīmata a Leschen i tana tohu paerua i te Whare Wānanga o Arkansas (Fayetteville), me te uru ki ētahi mahi ka noho hei tūāpapa mō āna mahi e pā ana ki te whakarōpūtanga, te kunenga mai, me te taupuhi kaiao o ngā Coleoptera kai harore. He whakarārangi i ngā Coleoptera kai harore o Arkansas te aronga o tana Tohu Paerua. He nui te wā i pau i a ia ki te kohikohi pītara, me te whai kia taunga ia ki ērā o Amerika ki te Raki. Nō te otinga o tana Tohu Paerua, ka haere te tangata nei ki te Whare Wānanga o Kansas, ko tōna tikanga he whakarōpū i ngā Cryptophagidae tana kaupapa matua. Heoi anō, i pau te nuinga o ōna kaha ki te tirotiro i ētahi atu rōpū, tae atu ki ētahi atu o ngā Cucujoidea (hei tauira, ngā Erotylidae) me ngā Staphylinoidea (ngā scaphidiine staphylinid). He waimarie i riro i a ia tētahi tūranga kaitiaki tuarua i te Whare Mātai Pepeke o Snow. I taua tūranga ka whānui ake tana mōhio ki te tautohu, ki te whakarōpū i ngā Coleoptera o te ao nui tonu, ā, i āhei ia ki te kohikohi pītara puta noa i ngā whenua Rātini o Amerika. Ka whakawhiwhia anō hoki a Leschen ki ētahi pūtea i āhei ai ia ki te toro i ngā whare taonga maha o Amerika ki te Raki, o Üropi, me ngā whenua Rātini o Amerika.
Ka rua tau ia e noho kore mahi ana, hāunga anō ētahi mahi whakaako i te whakarōpūtanga i te Whare Wānanga o te Rohe Nui o Michigan (i Lansing), kātahi ia ka tomo mai i Manaaki Whenua, i Tāmaki-makau-rau. Kei te āta whakapau kaha tonu ia ki te taha mātauranga o ngā whakapapa o ngā Coleoptera, ā, kei te whai wāhi tonu ki ngā mahi a te hunga mātai pītara i Aotearoa, i tāwāhi anō hoki. Ko tāna e tūmanako nei, kia puta he whakapapa pītara whaitake tonu ka tahi, kia whakatairangahia anō hoki ngā mahi rangahau i te ao tūroa, tae atu ki ngā mahi whakapapa, whakarōpū, ka rua. I tua atu i ēnei whāinga āna, kei te pūmau tonu tana ngākau nui ki te puoro tene kāore e uru mai te whakakaha ā-hiko. He kōtuitui tāna i ngā puoro tuku iho o te uru me ngā puoro onamata o īnia ki te Raki, e puta ai tāna ake momo puoro rakuraku.