- Ross H. Arnett, Jr.
Ross Harold Arnett, Jr. (
April 13 ,1919 -July 16 ,1999 ) was an Americanentomologist noted for his studies ofbeetle s, and as founder of the "Coleopterist's Bulletin ".Born in
Medina, New York , he was a star student atCornell University , where he became interested in beetles and started on a revision of the NearcticSilphidae . He graduated in 1942, the same year that he married his high school sweetheartMary Ennis .His first job was at the
New York State Conservation Department , studying the stomach contents ofgame bird s, but in July 1942 he joined the US Army (as a private) and was sent toLowry Air Force Base to study theSperry bombsight . After this diversion into non-insect work, he went toAvon Park Air Force Range inFlorida to survey themosquito population and control it, and from there to theArmy School of Malariology inPanama to teach mosquito taxonomy.In October 1945 he was discharged and returned to Cornell for graduate study, where he studied under
Robert Matheson andWalter Muenscher , receiving a master's degree in 1946 and the doctorate in 1948, where he returned to beetle work, revising theOedemeridae . He started the "Coleopterist's Bulletin" in 1947, while still a grad student.In July 1948, the newly-minted Dr. Arnett moved to
Arlington, Virginia and went to work for the USDA as a beetle taxonomist. He returned to academia in 1954 however, as head of the biology department ofSaint John Fisher College inRochester, New York , then toThe Catholic University of America in 1958, where he published his best-known work "Beetles of the United States" (1963). In 1966 Arnett moved toPurdue University , later spending three years as Henry L. Beadel Fellow at theTall Timbers Research Station nearTallahassee, Florida , and then in 1973 moving toSiena College inLoudonville, New York .In 1979 he resigned his position to write fulltime, publishing several books, then in 1982 founding
Flora and Fauna Publications inGainesville, Florida . The company was bought byE.J. Brill Publishers , but in 1989 they stopped doing biology, and he formedSandhill Crane Press to continue with his work. He also founded theCenter for Systematic Entomology during this time.He died at his home in Gainesville, while working on a new handbook "American Beetles", which was published posthumously.
Books
* "Beetles of the United States" (1963)
* "An Introduction to Plant Biology" (1970)
* "Plant Biology: A Concise Introduction" (1977)
* "The Naturalists' Directory and Almanac" (1979)
* "How to Know the Beetles" (1980)
* (withRichard Jacques ) "Simon & Schuster's Guide to Insects" (1981)
* "Insect Life: A Field Entomology Manual for the Amateur Naturalist" (1985)
* "American Insects: Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico" (1985, 2nd ed. 2000)
* (withEugene Gerberg ) "Florida Butterflies" (1989)
* "The Insect & Spider Collections of the World" (1993)
* (withN. M. Downie ) "The Beetles of Northeastern North America" (1997)
* (withMichael C. Thomas ) "American Beetles" (CRC Press , 2001)External links
* [http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe82p644.htm "Florida Entomologist" obituary]
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