Profiles

Marie-Claude & André

Marie-Claude

I was born and educated in Québec, graduating with a PhD in systematics entomology from McGill University in 1990. From 1991 to 1992 I pursued postdoctoral research at the Canadian National Collection (CNC) of Insects in Ottawa. I moved to New Zealand in October 1992 to become a full-time Hemiptera taxonomist and Curator of Hemiptera, and from 1 July 2019 a Research Associate Emerita, with the New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC), Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Auckland. 

From 1994 to 2019, in addition to my research and curatorial duties, I also occupied a number of science leadership and management positions: 

I have authored or co-authored over 125 publications on the taxonomy, distribution and natural history of  bugs (Hemiptera) and  ground-beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae ). My New Zealand research has mainly been published in the Fauna of New Zealand series (9 monographs - Auchenorrhyncha catalogue, Cixiidae revision, Heteroptera catalogue, Peloridiidae revision, Pentatomoidea revision, 3 Carabidae revisions, Carabidae catalogue), Insecta Mundi (8 monographs - Carventinae and Prosympiestinae (Aradidae) revisions, 5 Carabidae revisions and 1 checklist), and Zootaxa (11 papers, including 4 New Zealand Saldidae revisions and a World checklist). I have also published on Australian and South Pacific Hemiptera as well as on North and Central American Hemiptera, Orthoptera, and Carabidae. Many of these publications have been written in collaboration with my husband André. And together, we have also provided  web-based information on New Zealand Hemiptera.

So far I have described or co-described 20 new genera and 64 new species of Hemiptera, mostly from North America, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as 17 new genera and 108 new species of New Zealand ground-beetles.

I have a great interest in biological information technology, especially e-taxonomy, computer-assisted biological illustration, digital micro- and macro-imaging, interactive identification systems, and web-publishing. 

I am also a keen and experienced field biologist. From 1992 to 2018, with André, I have conducted specialised field inventories across New Zealand's main islands in order to gain a better understanding of the taxonomy, natural history, and biogeography of bugs and ground-beetles.  

Finally, every year I dedicate part of my time to improving the scientific curation of Heteroptera specimens in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, Auckland. 

ResearchGate          Google Scholar          Landcare Research

André

I was born and educated in Québec, graduating in 1974 with a Brevet d’Enseignement spécialisé from the Université du Québec à Montréal. I taught ecology at the Collège Bourget, Rigaud, Québec, until 1990. With the encouragement of the late carabid specialist Carl H. Lindroth, I quickly became interested in the study of ground-beetles. From 1975 to 1979 I was the co-editor of two entomological journals, Cordulia and Bulletin d’inventaire des insectes du Québec. From 1986 to 1992 I was Honorary Curator at the Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory, McGill University, Québec. I moved to New Zealand in 1992 to work as a research scientist. 

Currently, I am a Research Associate Emeritus with the New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Auckland (1992-present). I have written over 400 publications on the distribution, ecology, biology, and dispersal power of North American ground-beetles and tiger-beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and other insects (including two handbooks on the Heteroptera of Québec). In 1990 I published “The food of carabid beetles of the world”; in 1993 I co-authored a “Catalogue of Carabidae of America North of Mexico”; and in 2001 and 2003, with my wife Marie-Claude, we published a “Natural History of the tiger beetles of North America North of Mexico” and “A Natural History of Carabidae” for the same region. 

My currrent main research interests are the faunistics and taxonomy of New Zealand ground-beetles. So far, Marie-Claude and I have revised 45 genera and 264 species for this fauna (about 50% of the New Zealand fauna), including the description of 17 new genera and 108 new species, and published four (4) Fauna of New Zealand monographs (Carabidae Catalogue, 2001; Harpalini Revision, 2005; Synopsis of supraspecific taxa, 2007; Synopsis of Amarotypini, Cicindelini, Clivinini, Migadopini, Moriomorphini, Pamborini, Rhysodini, Trechini, 2013) and six (6) Insecta Mundi monographs (Synopsis of genus Bembidion, 2015; Supplement to 2001 Carabidae Catalogue, 2016; Synopsis of tribe Zolini, 2017; Synopsis of the tribe Platynini, 2021; Synopsis of the tribe Amarotypini, 2022; Synopsis of the genus Cerabilia, 2024). 

I have also co-authored publications on New Zealand Hemiptera with Marie-Claude, including five (5) Fauna of New Zealand monographs, four (4) Saldidae revisions and a World Checklist, as well as an updated  Checklist of  New Zealand Heteroptera (2014) in the journal Zootaxa, and three (3)  Aradidae revisions (New Zealand genera, subfamily Carventinae, subfamily Prosympiestinae) in Denisia and Insecta Mundi. And, together, we have also provided web-based information on ground-beetles.

I am a keen and experienced field biologist and from 1992 to 2018 Marie-Claude and I have been conducting specialised field inventories in over 1000 New Zealand localities in order to gain a better understanding of the taxonomy, natural history, and biogeography of ground-beetles and bugs.   

Finally, each year I dedicate part of my time to improving the scientific curation of Carabidae specimens in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, Auckland.