Laurence Alfred Mound (born 1934 in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed ...

, London) is an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

, who works mostly on the biology and systematics of

Thysanoptera Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

(thrips), an area in which he is considered a world authority. His zoological author abbreviation is Mound.

Career

He gained a B.Sc in zoology at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1957, a diploma in Economic Entomology in 1958 from

Imperial College, London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, a diploma of Tropical Agriculture from I.C.T.A. Trinidad in 1959, and in 1975 was awarded a D.Sc from the

. From 1959-1961 he served in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

as entomologist to the

Nigerian Department of Agricultural Research Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

, working on

whitefly Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 species have been described. Description and taxonomy The A ...

vectors of crop virus diseases. In

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

(1961-1964), he continued this work on whiteflies as entomologist to the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation. In 1964 he was appointed to the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

, where he was responsible for the collections of whitefly and thrips and their research. He became head of the

hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

section of BMNH in 1969, and deputy keeper of the entomology department in 1975, and head keeper in 1981. In 1994 he moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

where he continues to work on Thysanoptera.

Taxa authored

He has described over 640 thrips species and some 90 thrips genera. See :Taxa named by Laurence Alfred Mound and also
List of wikidata taxa authored by Laurence Alfred Mound

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mound, Laurence Alfred 1934 births Living people People from Willesden Entomologists from London Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Imperial College London University of the West Indies alumni