Patricia Vaurie (
née Wilson; September 14, 1909 - March 12, 1982 ) was an American entomologist who specialized in beetles in the families
Scarabaeidae
The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...
and
Curculionidae. She worked in the
American Museum of Natural History for much of her working life.
Biography
Patricia Wilson was born in
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania in 1909 and grew up in New York. She graduated from
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
in 1931 with a degree in English literature. In 1934, she married
Charles Vaurie Charles Vaurie (7 July 1906, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, France – 13 May 1975, Reading, Pennsylvania) was a French-born American ornithologist. He was born in France, but moved to Trenton, New Jersey as a youth. He studied at New York University and ...
, a dentist and amateaur
ornithologist.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Wilson began volunteering in the Department of Insects and Spiders, later known as the Department of Entomology, at the American Museum of Natural History.
Although she started as a volunteer, she began publishing her own scientific studies in 1948 and was appointed as a research associate in 1957.
She held this role and published work until her death in 1982. Her husband also joined the museum as a volunteer, ultimately being promoted to Curator Emeritus in the Department of Ornithology.
Together, they often traveled around the world to conduct research and collect
coleopterous specimens for the museum.
Vaurie's speciality was in beetles, particularly focusing on
weevils
Weevils are beetles belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They belong to several families, ...
and
tiger beetles
Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, '' Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. ...
. Despite the lack of a formal scientific degree, Vaurie was highly respected in the ornithology field for her extensive written contributions, which totaled 77 publications and included several revisions of a wide range of insect groups.
She was also a member and benefactor of the Coleopterists Society, and was made an Honorary Member after her death in 1982 in recognition of her scientific work and financial contributions
Works
Some of her major works include:
* 1948 A revision of the North American Languriidae. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 92:123-155.
* 1950 The blister beetles of north central Mexico (Coleoptera, Meloidae). Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 1477, pp. 1–68, figs. 1-21.
* 1954 Revision of the genera ''
Anchylorhynchus'' and ''Petalochilus'' of the Petalochilinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae). Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 1651, pp. 1–58, figs. 1–4.
* 1954 New synonymy in ''
Diplotaxis'' (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc., vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 49–54.
* 1955 Revision of the genus ''
Trox'' in North America (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 106, pp. 1–89, figs. 1-27.
* 1955 Review of the North American genus ''
Amblycheila
''Amblycheila'' is a genus of flightless, nocturnal tiger beetles. There are eight species distributed across the southwestern United States and Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the so ...
'' (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae). Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 1724, pp. 1–26, figs. 1–11.
* 1955 Review of the genus ''Macrosiagon'' in Mexico, with notes on ''Rhipiphorus'' (Coleoptera, Rhipiphoridae). Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 1717, pp. 1–19, fig. 1.
* 1955 (with Mont A. Cazier). Thirteen new species of ''Diplotaxis'' from northern Mexico (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Amer. Mus. Novitates, no. 1739, pp. 1–25, figs. 1–3.
* 1963 Key to ''Diplotaxis'' of Baja California (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Pan-Pacific Ent. 39:67-73, figs. 1–19.
* 1980 Revision of ''Rhodobaenus''. Part 1. Species in South America (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Rhynchophorinae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 167, pp. 1–44.
* 1981 Revision of ''Rhodobaenus''. Part 2. Species in North America (Canada to Panama) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Rhynchophorinae). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 171, pp. 117–198, figs. 1-65, 1 table.
Notes
References
External links
Scarab workers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaurie, Patricia
1909 births
1982 deaths
American entomologists
Barnard College alumni
Women entomologists
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century American zoologists
American Museum of Natural History
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Coleopterists