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Этот сайт был создан в 2007 году
известным американским энтомологом
(Ted C. MacRae) и представляет несомненный интерес
для российских колеоптерологов. Сайт регулярно обновляется и дополняется,
публикует оригинальные материалы и отличные фотографии, а так же полученные
от читателей сайта отзывы и комментарии.
Ниже, за копией Home Page, мы помещаем рассказ Теда о себе и о своем главном сайте.
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I am an agricultural entomologist with a serious avocational interest in beetle
taxonomy and biosystematics, especially woodboring beetles (families Buprestidae
and Cerambycidae) and tiger beetles (family Cicindelidae). I have been
interested in insects since early childhood and have collected them seriously
since my junior year in college (when I took Entomology 201). I earned my B.S.
in General Agriculture with emphasis in Entomology from the University of
Missouri-Columbia in 1979, where I continued in graduate school conducting
leafhopper life history and host preference studies. After earning my M.S. in
Entomology in 1981, I worked with the Missouri Department of Agriculture as an
Area Entomologist for eight years conducting insect surveys and working with
nursery growers and greenhouse operators in east-central Missouri. It was during
that time that my interest in beetles solidified, with woodboring beetles
becoming a focus due to their significance in the nursery industry. That
interest combined with my latent interest in taxonomy, leading me to conduct
comprehensive surveys of the buprestid and cerambycid faunas of Missouri.
In 1990 I joined a startup microbial pesticide research and development company
in California as a research entomologist, and five years later I moved to St.
Louis for my present position. While my professional duties during this time
have centered around developing sustainable and low-impact solutions for pest
control in agriculture, my free time has been spent collecting and studying
beetles. I have traveled extensively through many parts of the U.S. - especially
the southwest - and southern Mexico, and I have also collected in Ecuador,
Argentina, Brazil and South Africa. My private COLLECTION now contains ~75.000
specimens, and while a majority of the material represents species in the above
groups of beetles, I maintain small yet significant holdings in a few other
groups of insects as well. A large portion of the material in my collection has
been obtained through rearing, in which infested wood is retrieved from the
field and placed in emergence containers. This work has been useful for more
fully understanding host plant associations and distributions and has even
resulted in the discovery of some new species. More recent efforts have focused
on the Buprestidae of southern Mexico and a faunal survey of the Cicindelidae of
Missouri, with particular emphasis on elucidating the conservation status of
selected species. Please visit my list of PUBLICATIONS to see the results of my
work to this point.
While entomology is my primary interest, I also enjoy studying other natural
history subjects such as botany, ecology, geology, and paleontology. I started
this blog in late 2007 as an outlet for my budding interest in nature
photography and a more informal way to record my experiences and thoughts as an
entomologist and natural historian. I believe that to be a truly competent
natural historian, one must understand not only the elements of their chosen
specialty, but also the natural systems of which they are a part. Thus, I write
not only about insects, but also the plants on which they depend and the natural
communities in which they occur, the landforms that harbor these communities,
and my experiences in exploring these landscapes.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not
reflect the opinions of any institution or organization to which he belongs.
Comments on individual posts are welcome, and please feel free to CONTACT me
directly should you have any questions or feedback about the content at this
site.
My posts:
tcmacrae@att.net or
ted.c.macrae@monsanto.com
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2007-2013