Leslie Christidis

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Leslie "Les" Christidis (born May 30, 1959 ) is an Australian ornithologist . His research focus is the evolution and systematics of birds .

Life

Christidis graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1980 . In 1984 he was with the dissertation Evolution and Systematics of the Estrildidae (Aves): A chromosomal and Electrophoretic Study at the Australian National University for Ph.D. where he studied evolutionary genetics of Australian finches.

During his studies, where he did research first as a postdoctoral fellow with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and then with the help of a Queen Elizabeth II grant, he demonstrated that 4,500 species of songbirds originated in Australia. Previously it was believed that the songbirds originated in the northern hemisphere. Les Christidis was chief curator for ornithology at the Museum Victoria from 1987 to 1996 .

From 2004 to 2009 he was Deputy Director of the Australian Museum in Sydney. Since 2009 he has been director of the National Marine Science Center at Southern Cross University .

Les Christidis has authored or co-authored over 100 scientific papers and books on the taxonomy and evolutionary genetics of birds, bats, marsupials, bryozoa and intangible cultural heritage. Together with Walter E. Boles he published the work The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories in 1994 , with several revisions of Australasian birds, including the family of the South Sea warblers (Acanthizidae). In 2008 he brought out the book Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds , also with Boles , which is one of the standard works on the systematics of the Australian avifauna . Together with Richard Schodde , he described the subspecies Amytornis barbatus diamantina of the browgrass slipper in 1987 . In 2012 he established the subfamilies Amalocichlinae and Pachycephalopsinae and the genus Cryptomicroeca . In 2014 he published the second volume of The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World on passerine birds with Edward C. Dickinson . In the same year he introduced the bird families Eulacestomatidae , Ifritidae , Melampittidae , Oreoicidae and Rhagologidae together with Richard Schodde .

In 2005 Christidis was awarded the W. Roy Wheeler Medal.

literature

  • Leslie Christidis, Walter E. Boles: Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds CSIRO Publishing 2008, ISBN 978-0-64306-511-6 . (Short biography on p. X)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bright Sparcs. Biographical entry Leslie Christidis (short biography)
  2. ↑ Evolution - The Experience Symposium Speakers Leslie Christidis (short biography)
  3. ↑ Schodde, R., and L. Christidis. 1987. Genetic differentiation and subspeciation in the gray grasswren Amytornis barbatus (Maluridae) . Emu 87: 188-192.
  4. ↑ Christidis, L .; Irestedt, M .; Rowe, D .; Boles, WE; Norman, JA: Circumscription, diagnosis and description of two subfamilies and one genus of Australo-Papuan robins (Aves: Passeriformes: Petroicidae) . Zootaxa 3560, 2012: 87-88
personal data
SURNAME Christidis, Leslie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christidis, Les
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1959