Mike Quinn, Austin, TX Curator

Joined: Oct 4, 2013 Last Active: Mar 29, 2024 iNaturalist

Basically I'm interested in the biological diversity of Texas, but my taxonomic and geographic areas of expertise are strongest in the beetles and bugs of Texas. However I'm also checking in on the beetles of AR, AZ, FL, KS, LA, MO, NE, NM, and OK, at least during the slower winter months.

Starting in 2023, I have been increasing my iNat efforts on the Hemiptera of Texas (mostly True Bugs).

My primary "Hemip" (particularly true bug) references are:

True Bugs and Allies pages on Texas Entomology | BugGuide | and importantly GBIF (to check spp. distributions)

Henry & Froeschner (1988) Catalog of the Heteroptera, is an invaluable resource!!!

BugGuide is the foundational photo and information website for most North American arthropod taxa. Check out the BugGuide link under iNat's About tab to learn about each species.

Bio

M.Sc. in Entomology, B.Sc. in Wildlife from Texas A&M.

First Invertebrate Biologist for Texas Parks & Wildlife.

Curatorial Assistant, University of Texas Insect Collection, Austin.

Much of what I know about beetles, I learned under the close tutelage of Edward G. Riley since 1993, but I only started studying beetles in earnest since 2009.

Emphasis

I have mostly worked on the Beetles of Texas, but also studied a bit of the beetles of Oklahoma and Arizona.

I have posted the most species of beetles on both BugGuide and iNaturalist.
I posted my 2,000th Texas beetle species to iNaturalist on July 6, 2023!
I have suggested IDs for over 30,000 TX beetles.

My main Texas Beetle family webpages:

Buprestids | Clerids | Coccinellids | Meloids | Cerambycids | Chrysomelids | Weevils |

To ID a mystery beetle not on the above pages, try scrolling through my Travis County Beetle Survey page w thumbnail photos of >1,000 spp.

In addition to being an iNat Curator, I'm an active editor of BugGuide where most of my invert pix were originally posted. I have contributed to the editing of nearly every Texas beetle Info page on BugGuide.

When not working on insects, I love walking down trials recording many of the plant spp. I encounter!

Beetle Finding and Photographing Tips:

To go beyond just the insects that come to flowers or UV lights, one really needs to beat and sweep the vegetation. Also, immature insects don't come to lights...

I primarily live collect insects and shoot them via Canon's seminal (and now discontinued) MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens w/ a ring flash against a white background. I feel that ring flashes are underappreciated in their speed and effectiveness in rapidly acquiring great insect shots. More details on my field and photo techniques here.

Museum Work

I mostly photograph specimens from UTIC (Austin) and TAMUIC (College Station), but have also briefly worked w collections in AZ, AR, DC, FL, IL, LA, OH, OK, NM, NY, and VA. I encourage folks to collect insects that come to their lights and donate the spmns to a prominent local insect collection. Please contact me for more information.

Contact

entomike@gmail.com
Austin, TX

Profile photo ca. 2014

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