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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #386669
Research Project: Systematics of Hyper-Diverse Moth Superfamilies, with an Emphasis on Agricultural Pests, Invasive Species, Biological Control Agents, and Food Security

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Presidential Address: Emergence of a lepidopterist from the southern tip of Texas

Author
item Solis, Maria

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2021
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Solis will share highlights of her 40+ years as a lepidopterist, from her first lepidopteran foray into a cloud forest in northeastern Mexico to her present-day job on the Pyraloidea, as a Research Scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Curator of the Pyraloidea Collection at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Mentorship by Doug Ferguson, a pre-eminent Lepidopterist, and others, played a major role in her trajectory in Pyraloidea, and has served as a guide on how she has mentored young students and interns. Her passion for the Pyraloidea has been driven by its great diversity and caterpillar biology: what they eat, where they live, and how they keep from being eaten. They exhibit myriad ways to hide, including wing pattern camouflage and mimicry by adults, and larvae that mine leaves, stems and seeds, and roll or tie leaves together with silk. These facets of pyraloid biology will be woven into tales of her worldwide travels to study these moths.