Most dynastine scarab beetles are beneficial to natural ecosystems because the larvae decompose fallen logs and recycle forest nutrients and the adults are pollinators, while some are crop pests. At dusk, we turn on the bright lights to attract insects, and if the collecting is good, we will work all through the night until dawn.” Cave collects beetle insects at Cusco National Park in Honduras “For fieldwork, we set up a vertical above a second sheet on the ground and hang a mercury vapor lamp in front of the vertical sheet. “We find species in museums and in the field,” said Cave. The male of the species sports four horns, the foremost of which is long, thick, and ends in a sharp 2-tined point. Its extended hind wings resemble bat wings its front are hard, like armor. The elephant beetle, Megasoma elephas, on the back of “The Dynastine Scarab Beetles of Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador,” is double-winged. On the front and back of each volume are full-color images of beetles. The monographs are peer-reviewed and range from 300 to 666 pages. Currently, the two entomologists are at work on the dynastine scarab beetle fauna in Paraguay. They also have a journal article in review that covers the fauna in Chile. Since the Royal Entomological Society’s award selection for Cave and Ratcliffe’s work, a sixth monograph is in print for the dynastine scarab beetles in Ecuador, which was supported by funding from the National Geographic Society. Work to complete the monographs was funded by three grants from the National Science Foundation. Together the professors published their monographs with keys for identify specimens to genus and species. In a broad sense, Cave and Ratcliffe are Coleopterists, or beetle scientists. “A total of 31 species are proposed as ‘new to science,’ meaning we described the species and named it, which is taxonomy.” “In the five volumes, we treat 596 species, that is, we provide a description, diagnosis, distribution map and locality data, temporal activity data, natural history notes, and illustrations,” said Cave. The book was followed by Cave and Ratcliffe’s work on the fauna of Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, then a tome covering the fauna of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, a monograph on the West Indian fauna, and finally a book on the dynastine scarab beetles of the U.S. The first volume to appear, by Ratcliffe alone, addressed the fauna of Costa Rica and Panama. Westwood Medal for excellence in insect taxonomy.” Ratcliffe, professor and curator of insects at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, are career colleagues who gather and compile data on the Western Hemispheres’ species of dynastine scarab beetles, also known as rhinoceros beetles and Hercules beetles, and sometimes identify species new to science.Ĭave and Ratcliffe will be honored for their work, “Neotropical Dynastinae Monograph Series,” by members of the Royal Entomological Society at the next International Congress of Entomology, currently scheduled for July 2021 in Helsinki, Finland.Īccording to the Royal Entomology Society website, “in 2006, the Royal Entomological Society established a prestigious award aiming to encourage insect taxonomy, particularly revisionary work resulting in definitive monographs - the J.O. Cave is director of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC) in Fort Pierce, Florida. Cave, UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC) Director, image by Tyler Jones For their work to complete five volumes on New World faunal surveys and taxonomy of a scarab beetle subfamily, a University of Florida scientist and his colleague have won the U.K.’s Royal Entomological Society’s J.O.
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