Vol. 16
Stewart B. Peck
Michael C. Thomas
1998
Forward
The Arthropods of Florida series has now progressed through 30 years, since the inaugural publication of the series in 1965 with the catalog of Florida Lepidoptera. It is perhaps fitting that the beginning of the next period of years should be a catalog/checklist of beetles for Florida. Together, the two catalogs form a large portion of the insect diversity in the state. The beetles in Florida are among the more diverse of the beetle faunas in North America, particularly with the many tropical species entering south Florida from the West Indies, although this fauna is rather depauperate compared to the true tropics. The total beetle fauna for Florida now totals 4,646 species, as cataloged in this work. The authors note that 560 of these species are endemic to Florida. The current beetle total for Florida is a much larger figure than the 1,487 species listed in the first checklist for the state in 1878. Even so, it is without doubt that numerous species remain to be discovered and described in Florida, or are named species that remain to be found in parts of the state that are still not well surveyed. The present catalog has been a major effort on the part of the two authors, to condense a large number of records, note host data and check references so the accuracy of the included species and their names can be ensured.
Dr. Stewart B. Peck, of Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, has published extensively on beetles and their biologies, particularly for the New World fauna. He was born in 1942 in Davenport, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.S. in 1964, and from Northwestern University with a M.S. in 1966. After completing his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Harvard University, in 1971, he obtained an appointment to teach at Carleton University, Ottawa, and now lives and works in Canada. When not teaching or taking care of his graduate students, he finds the time to do extensive field studies of beetles in various areas of the world, as well as museum work to solve their taxonomic puzzles. He has published over 150 research papers since 1979. He also has studied the beetle fauna of Florida extensively, coming often to Florida over the last 25 years. His specialties include beetles of the Staphylinoidea and related groups, and their ecology and biology, particularly also those species in unusual habitats such as in caves.
Dr. Michael C. Thomas, curator of beetles at the Florida State Collection of Arthropods, in Gainesville, Florida, has studied the beetles of Florida since work on his graduate studies. He was born in 1948 in Miami, Florida. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of South Florida in 1970. An M.S. degree was completed in entomology at the University of Florida in 1981, and he completed his Ph.D. in Entomology there in 1985. After completing his Ph.D. degree he worked as taxonomic entomologist at the West Virginia Department of Agriculture until returning to Gainesville to work at the Florida State Collection of Arthropods (FSCA), Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry (DPI). Currently, he is in charge of the Section of Entomology and the staff of the FSCA at DPI. Dr. Thomas has published over 50 research papers since 1977, many of them on Florida beetles. He has studied beetles in almost every corner of Florida for a number of years. His taxonomic specialties include beetles of the families Cucujidae, Silvanidae, and related groups.
The two authors for this volume have collaborated for several years to complete this catalog of beetles. The computer knowledge of Dr. Thomas has also helped considerably in organizing the data for this work, as well as the detailed text. They have completed a remarkable compendium of the existing knowledge of the Florida beetle fauna, organized it and condensed the data, enabling others to use their work as the foundation for future studies of beetles in Florida.
Gainesville
March 1996
Florida State Collection of Arthropods Florida
Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
Division of Plant Industry
John B. Heppner Ph.D.
Series Editor and Curator