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186 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITYOF NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM
First and foremost, I thank my family for
their never-ending support. My wife, Tracey,
has always been extremely supportive of my
biological pursuits. She made significant personal
and career sacrifices by moving to a foreign
country and living the life of a graduate
student while I pursued a Ph.D. degree, and I
will forever be grateful to her. She has also
been a wonderful companion on several field
trips over the years. I also thank Tracey and
our daughters Ainsley and Maia for being understanding
and supportive when it came to
going away on trips or spending late hours in
the museum working on scarab research. I
thank my parents, Ian and Susan for my early
and persistent exposure to nature that played
a large part in forming the values and interests
I hold today, and my brother Julian, who
was always my “partner in crime” during
those years when we did everything together.
My father is a research scientist with the Canadian
National Collection who studies water
mite systematics. From a young age, I spent a
lot of time traveling around North America,
staying at field stations, camping in parks,
and going to other remote areas while my father
collected water mites. I think this was a
rare and special opportunity for a young person
to experience in this day and age of excessive
urbanization, television, and other
“improvements” and “modernizations” in our
lives. The following individuals were very
influencial along the career path that lead me
to scarab systematics and they all have my
thanks: Monty Wood, Henry Howden, R. A.
Lautenschlager, Claus Vogel, Mike Butler, Jim
Rising, Stuart Peck, and Doug Currie.
I acknowledge and thank my Ph.D. cosupervisors,
Drs. Brett Ratcliffe and Mary Liz
Jameson. They played a big role in my success
as a Ph.D. student by being supportive of my
research interests (even when they were tangential)
and by pushing me to do better. They
went beyond the typical role of a graduate student
supervisor by being mentors, colleagues,
and friends. Their support manifested itself
not only in the freedom to pursue some my
own interests, but also the financial and technical
backing of the laboratory to achieve my
goals. Brett and Mary Liz are also thanked for
critically reviewing this monograph. I also
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
thank Federico Ocampo and Aura Paucar-
Cabrera who were fellow graduate students in
our laboratory during my tenure as a Ph.D.
student at the University of Nebraska State
Museum. They have both been supportive,
helpful, personable, collaborative, friendly,
inquisitive, provided me with constructive
criticism, and have generally been a lot of fun
to be around. They are also both top-notch
scarab systematists.
I also acknowledge Leon Higley (Department
of Entomology, UNL) and John Janovy
(School of Biological Sciences, UNL), who
served for over four years on my supervisory
committee. The Department of Entomology
(UNL) has always been extremely supportive
of me, and I especially thank Department
Head, Z B Mayo, for his contributions to my
efforts. Also from the Department of Entomology
(UNL), I thank Tiffany Heng-Moss,
Sharron Quisenberry, and Marilyn Weidner
for their willingness to provide assistance.
Other individuals at the University of Nebraska
who have facilitated my Ph.D. tenure
include Guillermo Ortí (School of Biological
Sciences) and Trish Freeman (University of
Nebraska State Museum).
I am grateful to the Field Museum of
Natural History in Chicago, the United States
National Museum (Smithsonian), the Canadian
National Collection of Insects (CanaColl),
Entomological Society of America, and Sigma
Xi for awards supporting my travel to institutions
and meetings during my Ph.D. tenure.
I thank the following University of Nebraska-
Lincoln organizations for additional financial
support for my research and travel to meetings:
Initiative for Ecological and Evolutionary
Analysis, Department of Entomology,
Bruner Club (Department of Entomology),
and International Programs.
My research involved travel to conduct
field work and museum work. I am deeply
grateful for the outpouring of help and friendship
that many of my good hosts provided in
various places. I thank the following individuals
for their hospitality while visiting their
institutions and/or countries: Giovanni Onore
and Aura Paucar-Cabrera (Ecuador, QCAZ);
Luis Joly, José Clavijo, and Carlos Bordón
(Venezuela, MIZA); Malcolm Kerley and