Ira La Rivers

Ira La Rivers (actually Ira John La Rivers II , born March 1, 1915 in San Francisco , California , † October 11, 1977 ) was an American entomologist and biologist .

Life

Rivers was the son of Ira John and Yvonne La Rivers, nee Grouix. He was born in San Francisco, but grew up in mining camps and farms in western Nevada. In 1937 he received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nevada at Reno . In 1936, 1937, 1939, and 1942 he was a field researcher in the Entomology Bureau of the United States Department of Agriculture . From 1937 to 1938 he was a teaching assistant at North Carolina State College at Raleigh and from 1947 to 1948 at the University of California, Berkeley. Here in particular was the entomologist Robert L. Usinger(1912–1968) one of his mentors. From 1939 to 1942 and from 1948 to 1954 he worked as an entomologist at the University of Nevada. From 1942 to 1946 he served as an ensign in the United States Navy reservists . In 1948 he was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley . In the summer of 1950, La Rivers visited the Marshall Islands . In December 1951 he married Marian Byrd Ballinger. This marriage resulted in a son, Ira John La Rivers III. From 1953 to 1961 he directed the Museum of Natural History at the University of Nevada. In 1960 he was a PhD student at the Zoological Academy in Agra , India. From 1961 to 1977, La Rivers was a professor at the University of Nevada at Reno. After his death, his insect collection was bequeathed to the University of Nevada Natural History Museum.

The main interest of La Rivers was insects and aquatic insects as well as Nevada's algae. In particular, he conducted research in the Amargosa Desert on the Nevada-California border, in Death Valley , the Great Basin and Ash Meadows , Nevada. In 1962 he published a monograph on Nevada's freshwater fish.

Dedication names

Several insect species are named after Ira La Rivers, including Ammobaenetes lariversi , Veromessor lariversi , Calosoma lariversi , Melanoxanthus lariversi and Stenelmis lariversi .

Works (selection)

• A Revision of the Genus Ambrysus in the United States, 1951
• Fishes and fisheries of Nevada, 1962
• New Species of Limnocoris from Latin America (Hemiptera, Naucoridae), 1970
• Studies of Naucoridae (Hemiptera), 1971
• Catalog of Taxa described in the Family Naucoridae (Hemiptera), 1974

literature

• TP Lugaski: Ira John La Rivers, II, 1915–1977 . Pan-Pacific Entomologist 55, 1979: 230-233.

Web links

• Short biography at Prabook (English)