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QUENTIN D. WHEELER Professor Ph.D. 1980 Ohio State University Send e-mail to quentin.wheeler@asu.edu

Research Interest

My interests focus on the morphology, evolution and classification of beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera), fungus-insect associations, systematic biology theory, and the role of taxonomy in biodiversity exploration and conservation. Examples of current and recent activities in each of these areas follow.

Beetles and Fungus/Insect Associations. The most species-rich group of insects feeding on plasmodial slime molds (Myxomycetes) is the primitive staphylinoid beetle genus Agathidium (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) with several hundred described species. A recent two-part monographic treatment of the genus (Miller & Wheeler 2005; Wheeler & Miller, 2005) completes a series taxonomic revisions of all species of the tribe Agathidiini in the New World and more than doubles the number of species in the genus known from the Americas. Current work includes a comparative study of the external genitalia of the cucujoid radiation of predominantly mycophagous families.

Systematic biology theory. I am interested in the application and implications of the Phylogenetic Species Concept (PSC), particularly in hyper-diverse taxa such as insects. A book, co-edited with Dr. Rudolf Meier, contrasted this and several competing concepts of species in the contemporary literature (Species Concepts and Phylogenetic Theory: A Debate, Columbia University Press, NY, 2000). A new project will apply the PSC to a complex of highly morphologically diverse desert beetles in an attempt to unravel long-standing controversies over what constitutes a species in such cases.

Role of taxonomy in biodiversity exploration and conservation. An invited paper in a special volume of the Royal Society of London (Wheeler 2004) explains the current state and prospects of taxonomy and its essential role in understanding and conserving biological diversity. Working with taxonomists, curators, and computer scientists and engineers at ASU, I am seeking innovative approaches to the exploration, description and classification of earth's species, a new generation of research tools for speeding and improving "descriptive" taxonomy, and a new research paradigm based on larger-scale, multi-institutional, international team approaches to major taxonomic challenges. I am currently editing a book, The New Taxonomy (CRC Press), based on a symposium at the Cardiff biennial meeting of the Systematics Association.

Selected Publications

Miller, K. B. and Q. D. Wheeler. 2005. Slime mold beetles of the genus Agathidium (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) of North and Central America, Part II. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 290: 1-167.

Miller, K. B. and Q. D. Wheeler. 2005. Asymmetrical male mandibular horns and mating behavior in Agathidium Panzer (Coleoptera: Leiodidae). Journal of Natural History 39: 779-792.

Wheeler, Q. D. and K. B. Miller. 2005. Slime mold beetles of the genus Agathidium (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) of North and Central America, Part I. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 290: 1-95.

Wheeler, Q. D. 2004. Taxonomic triage and the poverty of phylogeny. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 359: 571-583.

Wheeler, Q. D., P. H. Raven, and E. O. Wilson. 2004. Taxonomy: impediment or expedient? Science 303: 285.