Contributor notes
Gibbs GW, Kristensen NP 2019. Mnesarchaeidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Hepialoidea). 78, 105 pages.
(
ISSN 1179-7193 (online)
;
no.
78.
ISBN 978-0-947525-60-6 (print),
ISBN 978-0-947525-61-3 (online)
).
Published
ZooBank: http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:63642F9E-5AE6-4A73-80C5-DB68E1796E2B
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7931/J2/FNZ.78
Niels Kristensen and George Gibbs spent much of their working lives developing their respective interests in primitive lepidoptera—NPK at the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen; GWG at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Niels was the son of an academic, politician, and ultimately the General Secretary of OECD, so it is not surprising that he was equally committed to pursuing science as well as actively participating in science administration. Our paths intersected when correspondence was initiated in 1975 by GWG seeking advice from NPK re his study of the Mnesarchaea head capsule (1968). Small beginnings, which in the fullness of time led to the Kristensen family spending an 8 month sabbatical in Wellington 1982–3 and GWG returning the association with a visit to Copenhagen, 1987–8. Semi-regular meetings since then around the globe have invariably had mnesarchaeids somewhere on the agenda. Niels’ wider interest has been the evolutionary morphology of primitive lepidoptera which led him to adopt all the latest tools that were being developed such as Electron Microscopy (SEM and TEM) and semi-thin histological sectioning for 3-D reconstruction of morphology. Hennig’s phylogenetic systematics gave him the methodology he needed to pursue a career unravelling the evolutionary history of hexapods, beginning with a landmark paper published in 1975, followed by five updated versions through to 1999. His standing in this field is evident from his major contribution to descriptions of hitherto unknown hexapod taxa such as a new insect order Mantophasmatodea in 2004 and a new family of Lepidoptera (Aenigmatineidae) found on Kangaroo Island, South Australia in 2015. With all these, and many more projects, publications and obligations on NPK’s agenda, including a four year directorship of the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, and the editing of a 2-volume Handbook of Lepidoptera (1999, 2003), it is perhaps no wonder the Mnesarchaea project has taken so long to complete. Despite these ’distractions’ and delays, working with NPK has been one of the most satisfying and enjoyable aspects of my career. To have a mentor who was so highly respected in his field has indeed been a very special privilege.
Ngā Kaituhi
Mō tētahi wāhanga nui o ngā aramahi o te tokorua nei, e whai ana a Niels Kristensen rāua ko George Gibbs i ō rāua manako nui ki ngā pūrēhua tuauri, tēnā i tōna, tēnā i tōna—ko NPK i te Whare Kohinga Kararehe, i Copenhagen; ko GWG i Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui, i Pōneke, Aotearoa. He tama a Niels nā tētahi tangata kura wānanga, tōrangapū, i piki rawa ki te tūnga o te Hēkeretari Matua o te OECD. Nā whai anō pea i rite tahi ai tōna kaha ki te aru i te pūtaiao me te taha whakahaere o te ao pūtaiao. I tūhono ō māua ara i te tau 1975, i te tuhinga a GWG i tētahi kupu kimi āwhina i a NPK mō tana rangahau i te kākano pane o ngā Mnesarchaea (1968). He tīmatanga iti, nā wai, nā wai ka haere mai te whānau Kristensen ki Pōneke i te 1982-3 mō te 8 marama, ko te okiokinga sabbatical te kaupapa. Nō te 1987-8, ka utua tēnei e GWG i tana haere ki Copenhagen. I ōna wā anō hui ai māua, ki hea, ki hea o te ao, ko ngā mnesarchaeid tētahi o ngā mea ka kōrerohia. Ko te kaupapa whānui ake e arumia ana e Niels, ko te hanga kukunenga o ngā pūrēhua tuauri. Nā konā, ko tana hāpai ake i ngā taputapu hou o te wā, pērā i te Karu Whakarahi Irahiko (te SEM me te TEM) me ngā tapahanga mōkitokito tūārauangi hei mahi tauira ahu-3 o te hanga. Nā ngā tātaitanga whakapapa a Hennig mō te kukunetanga o te momo, ka takoto ngā tikanga hei whai māna i te roanga o tōna aramahi, ko te wewete i te kukunenga o ngā angawaho waewae ono te kaupapa. I tīmata mai i te tuhinga aronui i whakaputaina i te tau 1975; whai i muri, ko ētahi whakahoutanga e rima, tae noa ki te 1999. Tāpua kau ana tana tū i tēnei peka mātauranga, i āna koha nui ki ngā kupu whakaahua i ētahi rōpū angawaho waewae ono kīhai i mōhiotia i mua atu, pēnei i te pūtoi pēpeke hou nei, te Mantophasmatodea, i te tau 2004, me tētahi whānau Lepidoptera hou (Aenigmatineidae) i kitea i te Moutere Rūpeke, i te Tonga o Ahitereiria, i te tau 2015. I ēnei mahi katoa, tae atu ki ētahi atu kaupapa, tānga, pīkaunga kei mua i te aroaro o NPK, tae atu ki tētahi hautūtanga e whā tau te roa i te Whare Kohinga Kararehe, i Copenhagen, me te ētitatanga o tētahi Pukapuka Toro mō ngā Pūrēhua, he pukapuka e 2 ōna wāhanga (1999, 2003), koia tonu pea i tino tōmuri ai te otinga o te kaupapa Mnesarchaea. Heoi anō, hāunga anō ēnei ‘whakawai’, ēnei whakaroaroa, ko te mahi tahi ki a NPK tētahi o ngā mea whaihua katoa, pārekareka katoa, kua mahi nei au. Nōku te hōnore nui kua noho au hei poipoinga mā tētahi tangata e pēnei rawa ana te whakamānawatia i roto i ngā kaupapa e mahi nei ia.
E tamariki tonu ana a George Gibbs (i ngā 1940) ka tīmata te whakaakona ōna ki ngā āhuatanga o te ao pepeke i Aotearoa e tana koroua, e G.V. Hudson. Engari nōna ka takahi i te ara kura wānanga i ngā 1960, kātahi anō ia ka mārama ki te wāhi nui me tōna rata nui ki te whānau pēpepe iti, mōriroriro tonu, e kīia nei ko ngāi Mnesarchaeidae. Kāore hoki tēnei rōpū i tino arohia e ō mua atu kaimātai pūrēhua. Ko tāna i whai ai, kia tirohia anō ngā whakapapa, me te whai kia tau he māramatanga ki ngā āhuatanga koiora o tēnā, o tēnā, mātua rā te wewete i ngā kōrero whāiti mō tō rātou oranga (Gibbs 1979), me te whakaatu i te tītaringa o ngā momo ki te mahere (Gibbs 1989). I taua takiwā, ka mārama haere te matahuhuatanga o te whānau, ka uru mai a NPK ki te kaupapa, ā, ka takoto tētahi tātai whakapapa taketake. Ināianei, i muri i te tārewatanga nui katoa pea e mōhiotia ana, kua puta tēnei pukapuka kia whitikina e ngā hihi kōpurapura o te rā, e takoto ai he kōrero poto mō ngā mea e mōhiotia ana i tēnei wā e pā ana ki ēnei pūrēhua parauri ririki o te wao nui a Tāne. Māori translation by Hēni Jacob