FNZ 59 - Erotylinae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Erotylidae) - Contributor notes
Skelley, PE; Leschen, RAB 2007. Erotylinae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cucujoidea: Erotylidae): taxonomy and biogeography. Fauna of New Zealand 59, 59 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
59.
ISBN 978-0-478-09391-9 (print),
).
Published 07 Sep 2007
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/351ADE1F-65D8-44E1-9F57-C94CACEA93DF
Contributor notes
Contributor Paul Skelley was born and raised in Decatur, Illinois, a city centered in the agricultural midwestern United States. His hobbies included bird watching, fishing, stamp and coin collecting, and wandering around the small wooded stream near his house. His first entomological endeavour was catching adult cabbage loopers, which were used unsuccessfully as fishing bait. He was introduced to entomology as a science in the Boy Scouts while working on a project to build a display collection at a local nature center. After that exposure, he started to build an insect collection. While in college at Eastern Illinois University, he took a part-time job curating the University beetle collection. From that point he knew what he wanted to do. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a major in Zoology, and went to the University of Florida for graduate work. His Masters thesis was a faunal study of the Erotylidae of Florida, which focused on life histories. His Ph.D. dissertation was a revision of the genus Ischyrus Lacordaire north of Panama. While working on his Ph.D. he accepted a position in the Florida State Collection of Arthropods and has been there since. His interests in beetles have focused on the Erotylidae, Aphodiinae (Scarabaeidae), and beetle natural histories in the southeastern United States. The majority of his works has described taxa, cleaned up taxonomies at lower levels of the classification system, or compiled information into single resources — all in an attempt to grasp Biodiversity at its foundation so that others can make progress. He likes to use and discover innovative collecting techniques that might produce novel data on beetle behaviours, not to mention the potential to catch new beetles for the collection. When not working on beetles or playing with his two sons, he likes to hike and observe nature.
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 palaeontology, 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. During this time at Arkansas, Rich met Paul Skelley through correspondence, and who was also doing a Masters, and over the years they have collaborated on several projects on Erotylidae. After completing his Masters Rich went to University of Kansas to work on the systematics of Cryptophagidae, under the tutelage of Steve Ashe, but spending a significant portion of his 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 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 acoustic music and song writing, some which is available on the web.