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The history of dipterology at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, with special reference to the Manual of Nearctic Diptera

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2012

Jeffrey M. Cumming*
Affiliation:
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIA OC6
Bradley J. Sinclair
Affiliation:
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, and Ottawa Plant Laboratory–Entomology, Canadian Food Inpection Agency, K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIA OC6
Scott E. Brooks
Affiliation:
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIA OC6
James E. O'Hara
Affiliation:
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIA OC6
Jeffrey H. Skevington
Affiliation:
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIA OC6
*
Corresponding author (e-mail: jeff.cumming@agr.gc.ca).
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Abstract

The history of Diptera research at the Canadian National Collection of Insects is briefly outlined. Short biographic sketches of the coordinators of the Manual of Nearctic Diptera are given and the development of the Manual project is presented to provide background on their achievements. Lists of publications by each of the coordinators and of patronyms honouring them are provided. This Festschrift honours the remarkable contributions of the coordinators, J. Frank McAlpine, Bobbie V. Peterson, Guy E. Shewell, Herbert J. Teskey, J. Richard Vockeroth, and D. Monty Wood.

Résumé

On décrit brièvement l'histoire de la recherche en diptère à la Collection nationale canadienne d'insectes. On présente de courtes biographies des coordonnateurs du Manuel de diptères néarctiques, ainsi que le développement du projet du manuel pour fournir de l'information sur leurs réalisations. On fourni des listes de références publiées par chaque coordinateur et des noms patronymiques en leur honneur. Ce numéro est en l'honneur des contributions remarquables des coordinateurs J. Frank McAlpine, Bobbie V. Peterson, Guy E. Shewell, Herbert J. Teskey, J. Richard Vockeroth, et D. Monty Wood.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2011
Figure 0

Fig. 1.Covers of Volumes 1–3 of the Manual of Nearctic Diptera (photograph by J.E. O'Hara).

Figure 1

Fig. 2.The K.W. Neatby Building on the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, home of the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes; the Diptera Unit is located on the third floor (photograph by J.E. O'Hara).

Figure 2

Fig. 3.Charles Howard Curran, New York, circa 1955.

Figure 3

Fig. 4.Guy Shewell. (A) In Ottawa, circa 1955. (B) At the 3rd International Congress of Dipterology in Guelph, Ontario, August 1994.

Figure 4

Fig. 5.CNC dipterists and colleagues. (A) In February 1958; left to right: Frank McAlpine, Guy Shewell, Hugh Huckett (Department of Agriculture Research Associate and expert on Muscidae), and Dick Vockeroth. (B) In September 1963; back, left to right: Dick Vockeroth, Frank McAlpine, and Guy Shewell; front, left to right: George C. Varley (influential insect ecologist visiting from the University of Oxford) and Jim Chillcott.

Figure 5

Fig. 6.Dick Vockeroth. (A) Collecting flies during the Northern Insect Survey in Churchill, Manitoba, 1950. (B) On a field trip in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, in 2006, following the 6th International Congress of Dipterology in Fukuoka (photograph by T. Saigusa).

Figure 6

Fig. 7.Frank McAlpine, Ottawa, 1965.

Figure 7

Fig. 8.Frank McAlpine (centre) and Dick Vockeroth (right) with visiting Washington, D.C., dipterist Curt Sabrosky (left), April 1963.

Figure 8

Fig. 9.Jim Chillcott, Ottawa, 1965.

Figure 9

Fig. 10.Bobbie Peterson, Ottawa, 1963.

Figure 10

Fig. 11.Herb Teskey. (A) Collecting flies as a student in 1950 in Churchill, Manitoba, during the Northern Insect Survey. (B) At the Biting Fly Conference in Ottawa in 1979, with Verne Pechuman on the left and John Burger on the right. (C) At the Biting Fly Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1986, with Sandy Fairchild on the left and Dick Roberts in the centre.

Figure 11

Fig. 12.The Manual of Nearctic Diptera coordinators with German dipterist Willi Hennig during his visit to the Diptera Unit in the fall of 1967. Back, left to right: Frank McAlpine, Herb Teskey, and Guy Shewell; front, left to right: Monty Wood, Dick Vockeroth, Bobbie Peterson, and Willi Hennig.

Figure 12

Fig. 13.CNC dipterists with visiting Swedish chironomid expert Lars Brundin, January 1970. Standing, left to right: Antony Downes, Jean Dergiman (from administration), Bobbie Peterson, and Tony Adisoemarto (Ph.D. student with Monty Wood, working on Asilidae); seated, left to right: Frank McAlpine, Monty Wood, Dick Vockeroth, Lars Brundin, Ralph Idema, and Don Oliver.

Figure 13

Fig. 14.Monty Wood. (A) Ottawa, 1965. (B) Ottawa, 1971. (C) Collecting flies on the hilltop of Eighty Mountain near Silver City, New Mexico, in 2007 (photograph by J.E. O'Hara).

Figure 14

Fig. 15.Frank McAlpine and Ralph Idema, circa 1979, examining habitus figures for publication in the Manual.

Figure 15

Fig. 16.Barry Flahey, Ottawa, 1982 (photograph by A. Borkent).

Figure 16

Fig. 17.Frank McAlpine accepting the Thomas Say Award on behalf of the Manual coordinators from Dorothy Feir, President of the Entomological Society of America, December 1989.

Figure 17

Fig. 18.The Thomas Say Award.