Alfred Francis Newton

This article describes the American entomologist, for the British ornithologist, see Alfred Newton .

Alfred Francis Newton (born September 11, 1944 ) is an American entomologist .

Life

After graduating from Riverside High School in Riverside , New Jersey , in June 1962, he completed a chemistry degree at Rutgers University in New Brunswick , New Jersey, where he received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in June 1966 . From 1966 to 1969 he was a graduate of the National Science Foundation . From 1969 to 1973 he was on a teaching fellowship and from 1970 to 1973 he was on a Richmond fellowship from Harvard University . In March 1970 he graduated from Harvard University with a Masters of Arts degree in chemistry. In June 1973 he received his Ph.D. at Harvard University with the dissertation A systematic revision of the rove beetle genus Platydracus in North America (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

From 1985 to 1991 Newton worked as an assistant curator in the entomology department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago . He was a curator from 1991 to 2008 and has been a retired curator ever since. Newton's research is mainly concerned with taxonomy, higher classification, phylogenetic relationships, and evolution within the superfamily Staphylinoidea ( short-winged birds and relatives), which includes more than 78,600 species worldwide. During Newton's curatorship, the Field Museum's short-winged collection exceeded one million specimens. This also includes the world's largest collection of larvae from this family.

Newton did more than three years of fieldwork, including in the United States , Mexico , Chile , Australia, and New Zealand . He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and numerous scientific notes and reports, and he has been involved in building several Internet resources.

Newton's publications include work on the subfamily Osoriinae and various smaller subfamilies and annotated catalogs on the genera (with their type species ) of the subfamilies Pselaphinae and Scydmaeninae . In 1984 he dealt with mycetophagy in short-winged birds. Together with Margaret K. Thayer , he published a catalog with the family group names and the current classification of the Staphylinoidea in 1992 and the first description of the subfamily Protopselaphinae, including the only genus Protopselaphus, in 1995 .

In 2002 he published the book Illustrated guide to the genera of Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) of Mexico , an illustrated guide to the rophytes of Mexico.

Dedication names

The short-winged species Scydmaenilla newtoni ( Syn . : Stenichnaphes newtoni , 1986) and Diochus newtoni (2017) are named after Alfred Francis Newton .

literature

• Aleš Smetana , Lee H. Herman : Brief history of taxonomic studies of the Staphylinidae including biographical sketches of the investigators. In: Catalog of the Staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). 1758 to the end of the second millennium. I. Introduction, history, biographical sketches, and omaliine group. Pp. 116-117.

Web links

• Profile of Alfred Francis Newton on LinkedIn
• Profile of Alfred Francis Newton at the Field Museum of Natural History

Individual evidence

1. ^ AF Newton, Jr .: Mycophagy in Staphylinoidea (Coleoptera). In: Q. Wheeler, M. Blackwell (Eds.): Fungus-Insect Relationships: Perspectives in Ecology and Evolution. Columbia University Press, New York 1984, pp. 302-353.