See my Blog Post about Graduate Student Research Collections
As part of my research program, I have developed a research collection focusing on the family Tenebrionidae (the darkling beetles). Digitized specimen data can be found on SCAN:
http://symbiota4.acis.ufl.edu/scan/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=96
Focal Taxa
My collection is limited to Coleoptera (specimen residues of other orders have been deposited at the ASUHIC. The family Tenebrionidae makes up 80%+ of the specimens in the collection, and the following taxa have fairly strong representation:
Eleodes Eschscholtz – The focus of my dissertation research and collecting efforts
Trogloderus LeConte – A genus found in sand dunes in the western USA, sampled heavily for a phylogeographic study
Focal Geographic Regions
Specimens are predominantly from arid regions of western North America due to my research interests and projects. Arizona has been the most sampled region for my collection though there is also large amounts of material from other western states as well as Mexico.
Collectors and Specimen Provenance
M. Andrew Johnston
Most of the material in the MAJC has been collected by me during the course of my research.
Ernest Anderson
Ernest Anderson built a large tenebrionid collection. His Eleodes holdings were given to the tenebrionid worker Ronald (Ron) E. Somerby. In 2015 Ron graciously transferred the bulk of this undetermined material to me in return for a synoptic set of the species within. Much of this material was collected by the late Derham Giuliani (California Department of Food and Agriculture) from extensive pitfall trapping in California and Nevada.
Fred Skillman
An avid collector and cerambycid expert, Fred Skillman has generously gifted and traded tenebrionid specimens from his collecting efforts in western North America and the neotropics.
Sal Anzaldo
Fellow Franz Lab member and weevil systematist, Sal’s research and collecting has focused on the neotropics, especially Panama. His tenebrionid specimens have been exchanged for the weevils I have collected in my field work. Sal’s collection is also digitized on SCAN.
Bill Warner
A prolific collector and Scarab and Histerid worker, Bill has had a long-term interest in darkling beetles. Bill has always been generous with his natural history knowledge, stories about collectors and collecting, and especially specimens.
Jeff Huether
Plant pathologist and Meloid specialist Jeff Huether has been very generous in providing tenebrionid specimens from his collection, and has been a great field work companion.
Desert Beetles | M. Andrew Johnston 