| Posted: 28 March 2008 |
Prof.
Bob Denno dies |
| One of the Auchenorrhyncha world's great
characters and one of the ecological world's great achievers and contributors, Prof. Bob
Denno of the University of Maryland died, apparently of a massive heart attack, last
Saturday 23 March, aged 62. Details of the circumstances of his death have been provided
(see below) by Steve Pennings, University of Houston, who was in the field with Bob
hunting butterflies when he died. It is good to know that he died while doing something
about which he was so passionate. A
Google group has been set up to exchange information and to post messages about Bob.
http://groups.google.com/group/bobdenno
"I'd like to let everyone know a little bit about the
circumstances surrounding Bob's death. He and I were collaborating on a project and had
gone to Sapelo Island, GA to prepare for the coming summer's research. Along with Laurie
Marczak (postdoc on the project) and her husband Conan, Kazik Wieski and Hongyu Guo from
my lab were staying in the same house with us. Bob, Laurie, Conan and I spent the first
four days of the week working on remodeling a greenhouse, building a couple of work tables
for the greenhouse, and re-potting plants. Every evening we had a few rum and diet cokes
(mixed by Bob) and ate as a group, together with three or four other technicians and
students who were around. Bob was having a good time (except when he hit his head on
low-hanging parts of the greenhouse). He was happy, enjoyed interacting with everyone in
the group, and was finding the trip to be a "working vacation" from the normal
office routine.
Bob and I spent Friday morning hunting butterflies. In the
afternoon, I had to do some business at the lab. Bob had brought a thick stack of
paperwork that he was supposed to be working on for the department, but he was enjoying
butterfly hunting so much that he decided instead to skip the paperwork and enjoy the rest
of the day. He spent the afternoon on his own, collecting a few more butterflies. They
were "drizzly little brown things", but he had a good time going after them and
getting a break from all the work that he felt was hanging over his head.
We were all a little sore in our lower backs and arms from
the physical labor that we'd been doing, but on Saturday morning Bob mentioned to both me
and Barb (he was calling her every morning and evening) that he was sore in his upper back
and not sure why, and that he felt a bit funny. He was not overly concerned, and nobody
realized at the time that these were warning signs. I asked Bob if he wanted some aspirin
and he declined. An hour later, as we were starting to move our gear out of the house in
order to depart, Bob collapsed. I was in another room, but got to him within a few
seconds. He was already unconscious, and stopped breathing within a minute or two. We
immediately began CPR, but when the first responders arrived with a defibrillator about 15
minutes later, there was no sign of any heart activity. We continued CPR as we moved Bob
into the back of a pickup truck, drove to the ferry, and transported him to the mainland
where an ambulance was waiting. The medics hooked up more sophisticated equipment than we
had available on the island, confirmed that there was no sign of any heart activity, and
told us that there was nothing to be done. According to the medic, the course of events
suggested a massive heart attack that could not have been survived under any normal
circumstances.
I wish that I had known Bob for longer than the last few
years. I enjoyed working and hanging out with him tremendously. Everyone has their quirks
and foibles, but there was absolutely nothing about Bob that rubbed me the wrong way. I
found him to be a fantastic collaborator and a fantastic friend. I feel very lucky that I
got to spend the last week of Bob's life with him. I am very upset by his death, but take
some comfort in the fact that everything happened so quickly that he can't have
experienced much distress or pain."
Steve Pennings |
|
| |
| Posted: 8 January 2008 |
Bob
Whitcomb dies |
| Bob Whitcomb, of Sonoita Arizona, died just before Christmas last year.
Bob was a multifaceted scientist who made major contributions to entomology and plant
pathology as well as being an avid ornithologist and accomplished poet. He attended the
12th International Auchenorrhyncha Congress at Berkeley, California where the editor of
these pages met him for the first and only time and was impressed with his passion for
birds, Indian culture and natural history generally. An obituary in the Washington Post
notes that he was well known in plant pathology circles for his discovery, in 1972, of the
genus Spiroplasma, which may be the most species-rich genus of living organisms.
He also recognised 50 new species of leafhoppers and published landmark papers on the
island biogeography effects of fragmented landscapes. |
|
| Posted: 7 September 2007 |
Delphacodes
species wanted! |
| Dr Charles Bartlett and Anthony Gonzon are
currently examining New World representatives of the delphacid genus Delphacodes.
We are seeking representatives of the following species which we are having great
difficulty obtaining: Delphacodes nicricula (Berg, 1879)
D. univittata (Berg, 1879)
D. cayamensis (Crawford, 1914)
D.rectangularis (Crawford, 1914)
D. marginicornis (Fowler, 1905)
D. sagata (Fowler, 1905)
D. hemiptera (Germar, 1818)
D. rivularis (Germar, 1830)
D. carinata (Glover, 1877)
D. staminata (Metcalf, 1923)
D. furcata (Provancher, 1872)
D. bergi (Scott, 1881)
D. seminigra (Stal, 1854)
D. patruelis (Stal, 1859)
D. culta (Van Duzee, 1907)
D. reducta (Van Duzee, 1907)
We would be interested in obtaining a loan of any of these species, if possible.
Also, if you can confirm the location of the primary type for any of these species, we
would be grateful.
Loans can be sent:
c/o Charles Bartlett
250 Townsend Hall
Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
University of Delaware
531 South College Ave.
Newark, Delaware 19716 USA |
or please contact us at either 02542@udel.edu (Charles) or atgonzon@udel.edu
(Anthony)
|
|
| Posted: 29 August 2007 |
NEWS
FROM THE MNHN, PARIS |
| 1. MNHN Hemiptera collection is now on
line You are now able to check our Hemiptera specimen collection through the web
with all biological information available from the associated data labels (eventually with
scanned photos). Priority has been given to the type specimens but some non-types are
already available as well. With more than 7 million Hemiptera specimens in Paris it will
be a very long task of several tens of years but it has started. Today more than 2840
specimens have already been registered.
If you want to get access to this information (It is still in French but it will be
translated soon) please connect to:
http://coldb.mnhn.fr/colweb/form.do?model=HEMIPTERES.wwwhemipteres.wwwhemipteres.wwwhemipteres
To use it:
- enter in : and use the various thesaurus available (marked by a ?) at the end of each
field for a precise request
- for browsing through the database link to 'Voir les opérateurs' and check the box
with '=' ask for instance for genus = 'no empty' ('non nul' in french) and you will be
able to access all the specimens grouped by genus.
Enjoy your visit to the Hemiptera specimen database of MNHN-Paris!
|
| 2. Taxonomic references: FLOW and COOL Two
taxonomic reference databases are available and another one is in preparation:
FLOW (Fulgoromorpha Lists On the Web). A new version with references is now available ( http://flow.snv.jussieu.fr/cgi-bin/entomosite.pl).
COOL (Cercopoidea Organised On Line), managed by Adeline Soulier-Perkins for the
froghoppers (http://rameau.snv.jussieu.fr/cool/).
These databases are also directly accessible from the 'MNHN Hemiptera
Collection' website and from the Tymbal Links site.
We have been able to secure some funds that allow us now to look to the future with
some optimism and probably to finish updating FLOW by the end of 2008. The new FLOW
includes most of the taxa and primary references from the Metcalf catalogues. Some
families are more less already updated as Cixiidae, Achilidae, Meenoplidae-Kinnaridae, ...
Fossil taxa are now also included. COOL will also benefit from this funding.
COOL is based upon the Metcalf catalogue (1960-1962) for the families: Cercopidae,
Machaerotidae, Clastopteridae and Aphrophoridae. Since the Epigydae were described
subsequently to this catalogue the information concerning this family has been taken
directly from the publication of Hamilton (2001).
In the very near future we expect a dynamic link between the specimen database
'Hemiptera Collections' and these two taxonomic references. Links to the database ScaleNet
is also a mid-term objective for the Coccid specimen collection. |
| 3. Collection Helper: e-demands for MNHN
collections Some of you already know that the Paris Museum has set up an electronic
access for any requests concerning the MNHN collections. Since April 2007, access to
the collections and various services at the Paris Museum (Museum National d'Histoire
Naturelle, MNHN) are now managed through an Internet interface. Although it lacks
some conviviality, its use is now mandatory for any official request about
the collections (short and long visits (but not Synthesys ones), loans, various
requests, photos, DNA requests, etc). Documents providing information are delivered
during the reqeust process.
You will have to register once only. To access the site please go to : http://colhelper.mnhn.fr/
and follow the directives. |
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