Research on Chrysomelidae

There are an estimated 40,000 species of chrysomelids, or leaf beetles, worldwide. These biologically interesting and often colorful organisms, such as the tortoise beetles, have a broad range of life histories and fascinating adaptations. For example, there are chrysomelids with shortened wings (brachypterous) and elytra (brachelytrous), other species are viviparous, and yet other leaf beetles have complicated anti predator-parasitoid defenses. Some species, such as corn rootworms (several species in the genus Diabrotica) constitute major agricultural crop pests. Research on Chrysomelidae 1 is a the first of an intended series of volumes on the Chrysomelidae edited by Jolivet, Santiago-Blay, and Schmitt.

Pierre Jolivet, Ph.D. (1954) in Biology, University of Paris (Sorbonne), is now retired. He taught at various Universities around the world and travelled intensively collecting and studying insects. He worked at the French Museum of Natural History in Paris and travelled with UN specialized agencies.

Michael Schmitt, curator of Coleoptera and Head of Department of Arthropoda at the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn (Germany), Diploma in Biology 1976, Dr.rer.nat 1982, from Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), Habilitation (1993) at Albert Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany), appointed extra-plan Professor of Zoology at Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn.

Jorge A. Santiago-Blay was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1955. He finished an M.S. in Biology, with emphasis in zoology, at the University of Puerto Rico. In 1990, he completed an MA in Botany and a PhD in Entomology at the University of California at Berkeley. He pursues his broad research interests in arthropods and plants - including exudates and amber - as a Research Collaborator in the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC.