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202 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITYOF NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM
Dr. Andrew Smith is a Research
Associate with the University of Nebraska
State Museum. His research
interests include the systematics,
evolution, biogeography, and conservation
of scarab beetles. His current
research focus is on the phylogenetics
and biogeography of phytophagous
scarabs, especially in the southern
hemisphere. He is also conducting
monographic revisions of other
ruteline genera besides Platycoelia.
Smith started on his path to a
career in insect taxonomy early in
life. At a young age, he spent a lot of
time traveling around North
America, staying at field stations,
camping in parks, and going to other
remote areas while his father collected
water mites. His father, Ian
Smith, is a research scientist with
the Canadian National Collection
who studies water mite systematics.
This early and extensive exposure to
natural habitats led to an interest in
collecting beetles (among other
things). Many years later, while attending
Carleton University in Ottawa,
Canada, his interest in beetles
was rekindled when he attended a
field course in Costa Rica taught by
Monty Wood. While on the field course, Smith
was introduced to the wonders of tropical entomology
and the amazing diversity of scarab
beetles. Smith later returned to Costa Rica
twice and also went to Bolivia. Back at
Carleton, courses taught by Henry Howden
and Stuart Peck provided the impetus for continuing
on with scientific studies on scarab
beetles.
After finishing his undergraduate degree,
Smith spent an intense but gratifying field
season conducting research on small mammals
in northern Ontario (northwest of Thunder
Bay). This was followed by a Masters
degree at the University of Toronto with two
field seasons of forest bird censuses and research
at the Wildlife Research Station in
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Andrew Smith collecting at the peak of Cerro Montecristo, El
Salvador. Photo by Mary Liz Jameson.
Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario. These
experiences taught him how to be a research
scientist and the importance and enjoyment
of conducting field research.
In 1997, Brett Ratcliffe and Mary Liz
Jameson offered Smith a Ph.D. position at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln to conduct
scarab systematics research. At UNL, Smith’s
research flourished and resulted in monographic
revisions, phylogenetic analyses, and
larval descriptions of several poorly known
taxa. He also went on field trips to El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and
Argentina to conduct scarab research. This
monograph on Platycoelia is the main product
of Smith’s research endeavors as a Ph.D.
student.