Edwin O'Neill Willis (18 January 1935 – 11 April 2015) was an American ornithologist who studied the birds of

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Biography

Willis was born on 18 January 1935, the son of Andrew Nelson Willis and Verna Fleming. He was raised on a farm in

Russellville, Alabama Russellville is a city in Franklin County in the U.S. state of Alabama. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,855, up from 9,830 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Franklin County. History After the War of 1812, t ...

. Willis was interested in birds from an early age and published his first article in 1949 when he was 14 years old. He graduated with a BSc. in biology from the

Virginia Polytechnic Institute Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg, as well as the surrounding county, is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of V ...

in 1956 and then moved to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

where he obtained his master's degree two years later. His dissertation was on ''The foraging behavior of ant-tanagers in British Honduras''. He was awarded a doctorate in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964. His dissertation on ''The Behavior of Bicolored Antbirds'' was published by the university as a monograph. He then held a postdoctoral position at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

for a year. Willis married the ornithologist and entomologist Yoshika Oniki in 1970. In 1982 he was appointed to a faculty position at the

São Paulo State University São Paulo State University (UNESP, pt, Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho") is a public university run by the state government of São Paulo, Brazil. UNESP has a combined student body of over 45,000 spread among its 23 c ...

(Universidade Estadual Paulista) in

Rio Claro Rio Claro (Portuguese and Spanish for "clear river" or "clean river") may refer to: Cities *Rio Claro, Trinidad and Tobago, the largest town in southeastern Trinidad and Tobago *Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian municipality in the state of R ...

, Brazil, where he taught until his retirement in 2005. He died on the 11 April 2015 in

Rio Claro, São Paulo Rio Claro is a city in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The elevation is 613 m. It was incorporated as the village of '' São João Batista do Ribeirão Claro'' in 1827, and this incorporation is celebrated every year on June 24 as a municipal h ...

, Brazil. During his career Willis published nearly 300 scientific articles and books. Some of these were written in Portuguese. Many were co-authored with his wife. Between 1966 and 1986, he wrote more than 30 papers on

ant follower Ant followers are birds that feed by following swarms of army ants and take prey flushed by those ants. The best-known ant-followers are 18 species of antbird in the family Thamnophilidae, but other families of birds may follow ants, including thru ...

s: these are bird species that feed on insects and other arthropods that are flushed by swarms of

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limit ...

s. In recognition of his many contributions to ornithology, when in 1997 a subspecies of the

dusky antbird The dusky antbird or tyrannine antbird (''Cercomacroides tyrannina'') is a passerine bird in the antbird family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America from southeastern Mexico southwards to western Ecuador, and Amazonian ...

(''Cercomacra tyrannina laeta'') was promoted to species status, it was named " Willis's antbird". His name is also used for a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

red-throated ant tanager The red-throated ant tanager (''Habia fuscicauda'') is a medium-sized passerine bird. This species is a resident breeder on the Caribbean slopes from southeastern Mexico to eastern Panama. It was usually considered an aberrant kind of tanager an ...

(''Habia fuscicauda willisi''). The common scale-backed antbird had traditionally been placed in the genus ''

Hylophylax ''Hylophylax'' is a genus of bird in the family Thamnophilidae. The genus ''Hylophylax'' was erected by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway in 1909 with the spotted antbird as the type species. It contains three species: * Spotted antbird ...

'' based on the morphology but a 2007 molecular study found that it was not closely related to the other members of the genus. The common scale-backed antbird was moved to a new genus '' Willisornis'', a name chosen by the Brazilian ornithologists Carlos Agne and José Fernando Pacheco to honour Willis.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Edwin O'Neill 1935 births 2015 deaths People from Russellville, Alabama American ornithologists Virginia Tech alumni Louisiana State University alumni Academic staff of the São Paulo State University American emigrants to Brazil