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I am not the most wonderful, eloquent writer but I work at it.  I can easily revise a manuscript a 1000 times and still find a word or even entire sentences to revise or remove after my publication appears. It is remarkable to me that famous scientists like Dr. Charles Michener at University of Kansas…

What happened since my last blog in March???  I did not get bored, was not lazy, and did not forget.  In fact, the opposite happened – many exciting developments.  It was easier to Tweet a phrase and update Facebook Entomology groups than to write a ca. 300-word blog.  Now that each of my family members…

Many researchers work on Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles), carrying out investigations that range from systematics to chemical controls.  We read each others works in a huge range of journals. If we are lucky, we can travel to society meetings from time to time and meet some of our colleagues. However, it is rare for us to meet…

My colleague and co-author Margarete Macedo introduced the idea of this grant back in 2014, and the proposal was submitted in 2015.  Although awarded, the funds were not given out until recently. The wait made all of us lose a little hope, given that the Brazilian economy was wobbling a bit.  However, finally we can…

My systematic inventory of beetles in Peru has discovered many, many new species.  There is a long lag between recognizing you have a new species among the specimens and getting around to the scientific paper that describes any new species, along with any additional new discoveries (e.g. new records for a country, additional life stages,…

The traveling exhibit, “Facing up to Beetles: An Entomologist’s Perspective”, has been showing in Wayne, NE, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Barbara Hayford, Professor of Biology at Wayne State College.  The exhibition was dismantled two days ago and today Dr. Hayford sent me the report about the various public and online activities they developed…

Once insects are cleaned up (Step 1, previous blog), I run them through a dehydration series from 70% ethanol to 100% ethanol.  This takes about 2 days for my small insects.  Then they are immersed in HMDS overnight or critical point dried.  It is important to remove all the water in the tissue because HMDS…

One phase of the “Beetles of Peru” project is winding down, so I am pulling new/overlooked projects to the front burner.  Baby cassidines – eggs, larvae, and pupae – are needing some love and attention.  I tackle these species stories in stages, first with fieldwork to find them and assemble fresh samples, second the requests to…

Congratulations to doctoral candidate, Sara López-Pérez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México on the publication of the genus revision that she led.  We have worked together for several years now, with Sara visiting my lab twice and finally our collaboration has a fruit with the first paper published today.  This genus revision has 12 species, including a new species.…