New Zealand Weevil Images: About the authors

Rich Leschen

My expertise is primarily the systematics of fungus feeding beetles with an emphasis on Polyphaga. Many projects are collaborative, and in addition to beetle systematics, I have worked on natural history, population genetics, biogeography, paleontology, and behavior. I received a PhD at the University of Kansas.

Birgit E. Rhode

I was born and educated in Germany where I graduated with a PhD in marine biology from the University of Hamburg in 1987. Between 1980 and 1993 I worked in estuarine and coastal marine ecology (Institute of Hydrology, Island of Norderney, North Sea), studied the developmental morphology of polychaete sense organs, and lectured in general zoology and marine biology (Zoological Institute, Free University of Berlin). In 1993, I moved to New Zealand. Always open to new challenges, I abandoned the marine environment and moved on to drier grounds becoming a Research Assistant to Marie-Claude Larivière's work on New Zealand Hemiptera. I have always been fascinated with photography and structural details, so it was almost inevitable that with the introduction of digital imaging into the research environment I became more and more involved in imaging and graphics work. I am now fulfilling most of the imaging requirements of entomological systematists at Landcare Research.

Leonie Clunie

I am a fourth generation New Zealander, and was born in Helensville. My parents were keen gardeners and fostered in me an interest in all living things. Growing up on a dairy farm with a large garden and orchard, there was plenty of opportunity to explore the natural world. I studied at University Auckland but left before completing my degree. I married and moved to Australia and later spent four and a half years in New Guinea. After returning to New Zealand and after the family had grown, I renewed my studies at Auckland University and gained BSc in Botany. Later, I did extra papers in Entomology and Ecology. As a technician at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC), I have spent many hours sorting litter samples. I became familiar with many different sorts of weevils. I am now involved in a range of technical work in NZAC and in the development and maintenance of the What is this bug? website.