Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

Contributor notes

Emberson, R. M. 2017. Licinini (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae: Harpalinae). Fauna of New Zealand 75, 80 pages.
( ISSN 1179-7193 (online) ; no. 75. ISBN 978-0-947525-13-2 (print), ISBN 978-0-947525-12-5 (online) ). Published 16 Aug 2017
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/AB4DA406-318E-40F1-8618-2A5CC86BB93F
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7931/J2/FNZ.75

Contributor Rowan Mark Emberson was born in July 1941 in Haifa, Palestine, a relatively safe haven reluctantly selected by his mother as she attempted to avoid conflict zones in the midst of the Second World War. After spending a year in Bagdad, Iraq, where his father was based, and another year in Cape Town, South Africa, where he was introduced to dung beetles, Rowan and his mother arrived in the South of England in late 1943, just in time for the V1 attacks on London. They were joined by his father in 1945, after the conclusion of the war in Europe. Rowan’s parents were both excellent field naturalists and he grew up with a strong interest in all fields of natural history. From the age of nine he went to boarding school at Christ’s Hospital in Sussex, which provided opportunities and encouragement to further his interests in biology. Following his schooling, he studied Forestry at Edinburgh University, graduating with a B.Sc. (Hons). At weekends much of his time was taken up with projects involving collection and identification of spiders and fleas from all over Scotland. His honours project was a study of soil mites in remnant Caledonian Scots pine forest. This led to a long-term interest in the biology and systematics of Mesostigmata, which was pursued as a Ph.D. topic at Macdonald College of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Following his Ph.D. studies, Rowan joined the staff of the then Agricultural Zoology Department, Lincoln College, Canterbury University in 1968. This soon became the Entomology Department and eventually the Department of Ecology, Lincoln University. He lectured on a wide range of topics loosely associated with entomology or ecology, and, with graduate students, mainly studied aspects of the adaptation of the life histories of pest and beneficial insects to the New Zealand environment. He also retained a strong personal research interest in systematics and the taxonomy of mites and insects. Over time, this research interest became focused on beetles, particularly ground beetles and dung beetles, together with macrochelid mites, an important family of Mesostigmata. He retired from full time employment in 2002, but remains an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Lincoln University and does some contract lecturing, as well as consulting and reviewing for various individuals and organizations. His contributions to entomology were recognized by the New Zealand Entomological Society, which made him a fellow of the Society in 2014.

I whānau mai te kaituhi, a Rowan Mark Emberson, i te marama o Hōngongoi 1941 ki Haifa, i Palestine, te āhuru mōwai i korongatā nei tana whaea ki te kōwhiri i a ia e karo ana i ngā rohe pakanga i waenganui i te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao. Kotahi tau rātou ki Bagdad, Iraq, te wāhi mahi a tana matua, he tau anō ki Cape Town, i Āwherika ki te Tonga, te wāhi i ako ai ia mō te pītara hamuti. Ka tae a Rowan rāua ko tana whaea ki Ingarangi ki te Tonga i te paunga o te tau 1943, me tā rāua tūpono atu ki ngā pahū V1 ki runga o Rānana. Ka tae ake tana matua i te tau 1945, i muri mai o te mutunga o te pakanga i Ūropi. He tohunga tahi ngā mātua o Rowan i te ao mātai tipu, mātai kararehe i ō rātou taiao māori, ka pakeke mai ia me te kaingākau ki ngā wāhanga katoa o te hītori māori. Ka iwa ōna tau ka haere ia ki te kura noho i Christ's Hospital i Sussex, i konei ka tuwhera mai he huarahi me te whakahau anō i a ia kia whai tonu i tāna i pai ai, arā, te mātai koiora. Whai muri i tana haere ki te kura, ka whāia e ia ngā mātauranga whakatipu rākau i te Whare Wānanga o Edinburgh, ka puta te ihu i tana B.Sc. (Hons). I ngā mutunga wiki, ka whakapau kaha ia ki ngā kaupapa e pā ana ki te kohikohi me te tautuhi i te pūngāwerewere, i te puruhi o te whānuitanga atu o Kotarani. Ko tana kaupapa hōnore ko te mātai i te momo pūwere moroiti (mite) noho oneone i ngā toenga ngahere paina Caledonian Scots. Ka tupu ki roto i a ia tana kaingākau auroa ki te mātai koiora me te pūnaha whakarōpū o te Mesostigmata, i whāia nei e ia hei kaupapa Tohu Kairangi i te Kāreti o Macdonald o te Whare Wānanga o Gill i Montreal, Kānata. I muri mai o tana whai i tana Tohu Kairangi, ka noho a Rowan hei kaimahi i te Tari Mātai Kīrehe Ahuwhenua i te Kāreti o Lincoln, Whare Wānanga o Canterbury i te tau 1968. Nā wai, nā wai ka noho tēnei hei Tari Mātai Pepeke, i muri iho ko te Tari Mātai Hauropi o te Whare Wānanga o Lincoln. He whānui ana kaupapa kauwhau e pā ana ki te mātai pepeke, ki te mātai hauropi rānei, ka mutu i te taha o ngā tauira paerua, ka mātai i ngā āhutanga e pā ana ki te urutau o ngā hītori o te oranga o te riha me ngā pepeke whai hua ki te taiao o Aotearoa. I mau tonu hoki tana kaingākau whaiaro ki te rangahau i te pūnaha whakarōpu o te pūwere moroiti me te pepeke. I roto i te wā ka arotahi tēnei āhuatanga whaiaro ki te pītara, e aro nui ana ki te pītara haere whenua me te pītara hamuti, tae atu ki ngā pūwere moroiti macrochelid, tētahi whānau Mesostigmata tino hira. Nō te tau 2002 i mutu ai tana mahi tūturu engari e noho tonu ana ia hei Pouako Matua Hōnore i te Whare Wānanga o Lincoln, e kauwhau tonu ana ia ā-kirimana nei me tana noho ki te whakatika, ki te arotake mahi mā te tangata, mā te whakahaere rānei. I whakanuia ana mahi mātai pepeke e te Rōpū Mātai Pepeke o Aotearoa, ka noho ia hei mema o te Rōpū i te tau 2014.

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