Sergio Antonio Vanin (26 October 194821 October 2020) was an entomologist at the University of São Paulo. As student and professor, he served more than 50 years in that institution, being recognized as Professor Emeritus in 2018. During his career, he produced 108 publications and advised 16 graduate students, having a large influence in the adoption of phylogenetic systematics in Brazil.
Vanin described a total of 123 new species of
beetles
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
, most of them in the families
Curculionidae
The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families, with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae.
T ...
,
Torrindicolidae,
Cerophytidae
The Cerophytidae are a family of beetles belonging to Elateroidea. Larvae are associated with rotting wood, on which they are presumed to feed.Costa, Cleide, Vanin, Sergio A., Lawrence, John F. and Ide, Sergio. "4.4. Cerophytidae Latreille, 1834" ...
and
Belidae
Belidae is a family of weevils, called belids or primitive weevils because they have straight antennae, unlike the "true weevils" or Curculionidae which have geniculate (elbowed) antennae. They are sometimes known as "cycad weevils", but this pro ...
.
Another 23 species have been named in honor to him.
In addition to the new species, a large contribution was the morphological description of immature stages of 179 species of beetles,
many of them summarized in the book "Larvas de Coleoptera do Brasil".
References
External links
Obituary in the newspaper of the University of São Paulo (in portuguese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanin, Sergio Antonio
1948 births
2020 deaths
Brazilian entomologists
20th-century Brazilian zoologists
People from São Paulo