A. Binion Amerson

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Arthur Binion Amerson, Jr. (born January 2, 1936 in Macon , Georgia , United States ; died September 23, 2017 ) was an American arachnologist , ornithologist, and ecologist .

Life

Amerson earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Mercer University in 1958 . Then he began to work on pathogenic arthropods at the entomological institute of his university . He moved to the University of Kansas and specialized in acarology during his master's degree .

In the summer of 1962 he interrupted his studies for two months to study the arthropod fauna with fellow students as part of a field study commissioned by the United States Department of Defense on the Mexican peninsula of Yucatán . Due to the strained relations between the United States and Cuba, which culminated in the Bay of Pigs invasion the previous year , the department wanted information on dangerous animals in the area.

In late 1962, Amerson accepted a position at the Smithsonian Institution to work on the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program (POBSP). The project, which ran from 1962 to 1969, was also commissioned by the United States Department of Defense and included the study of the fauna and flora of some Pacific islands under American administration. Starting with the northwestern islands of Hawaii , it went through the Micronesian Line Islands , Phoenix Islands , Marshall Islands and the Gilbert Islands to American Samoa . During eight years of research by more than seventy scientists and students, nearly two million seabirds were ringed and numerous Hawaiian monk seals and sea ​​turtles were tagged.

Over the eight-year project period, a large number of scientific publications were produced, most of which were written by Amerson as one of the scientific directors. These publications included the initial descriptions of a number of mites, including parasites of sea ​​birds .

Following the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, Amerson returned to the University of Kansas and graduated with a Masters degree in Ecology and Environmental Studies. From the early 1970s he worked for the Dallas-based Environmental Consultants Inc. His first work was a two-volume treatise on the natural history of American Samoa, commissioned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . Projects followed over the next decade in the United States, Central and South America, and several Pacific islands, most of them environmental assessments and environmental impact assessments.

In the mid-1980s, environmental contracts dropped noticeably, so Amerson began working as a technical writer for companies in the IT industry. Amerson was also a member of the Society for Technical Communication , where he held various offices at local and national level.

In 2001, Amerson retired. He had been cultivating daylilies and irises since 1994 . He was a member of the American Hemerocallis Society and several local horticultural associations. Amerson died in September 2017 and donated his body to science.

Dedication names

According to A. Binion Amerson was Blankaarsia amersoni named, a mite that of Amerson while working for the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program in the oral cavities of Sooty Terns and a red-tailed tropic bird on the Johnston Atoll belonging Sand Iceland was found. Ixodes amersoni was also named after Amerson. It is a type of tick . Their first description was based on specimens that an Amerson employee had found on fairy terns on the island of Rawaki as part of the POBSP .

Initial descriptions

As a co-author, A. Binion Amerson was involved in the first description of a number of parasitic mites, the types of which were found by himself or his colleagues on various Pacific islands.

Publications (selection)

literature

Steve Guynes and Ray Houston: Arthur Binion Amerson, Jr. January 2, 1936 - September 23, 2017 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James M. Brennan: A Small Collection of Chiggers (Acarina: Trombiculidae) from the North Central Pacific . In: Journal of Parasitology 1965, Volume 51, No. 5, pp. 888-892, doi : 10.2307 / 3276181 .
  2. ↑ Glen M. Kohls : A new sea bird tick, Ixodes amersoni, from Phoenix Island (Acarina: Ixodidae) . In: Journal of Medical Entomology 1966, Volume 3, No. 1, pp. 38-40, doi : 10.1093 / jmedent / 3.1.38 .
  3. ↑ James M. Brennan and A. Binion Amerson: Six New Species and Additional Records of Chiggers from the Central Pacific (Acarina: Trombiculidae) . In: Journal of Parasitology 1971, Volume 57, No. 6, pp. 1311-1317, doi : 10.2307 / 3277989 .
personal data
SURNAME Amerson, A. Binion
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Amerson, Arthur Binion (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American arachnologist, ornithologist, and ecologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Macon , Georgia , United States
DATE OF DEATH 23 September 2017