Vladimir Vasilevich Zherikhin (russian: Владимир Васильевич Жерихин, 22 July 194521 December 2001), of the

Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences The Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (PIN; russian: Палеонтологический институт РАН) in Moscow is among the world's largest paleontological institutes. An affiliate of the Russian Academy of Scienc ...

, Moscow, was one of the world's leading paleoentomologists and

coleopterist Coleopterology (from Coleoptera and Greek , ''-logia'') is the scientific study of beetles, a branch of entomology. Practitioners are termed coleopterists and form groups of amateurs and professionals for business and pleasure. Among these is ...

s. He worked on the palaeontology of the

Coleoptera 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 ...

(beetles) and of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

in general, and on the taxonomy of the weevils (

Curculionoidea Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

).Anon, 2001. Obituary V. V. Zherikhin http://palaeoentomolog.ru/obituary.html Zherikhin was one of the lead authors of the multi-authored monograph "Historical development of the class Insecta" edited by his long term collaborators

Boris Rohdendorf Boris Borisovich Rohdendorf (russian: link=no, Борис Борисович Родендорф, 12 July 190421 November 1977) was a Soviet entomologist and curator at the Zoological Museum at the University of Moscow. He attained the position of ...

and

Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn (Russian: Александр Павлович Расницын) is a Russian entomologist, expert in palaeoentomology, and Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation (2001). His scientific interests are centered on ...

, as well as the much expanded English language "History of Insects", to which he contributed chapters on the patterns of insect burial (

taphonomy Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term ''taphonomy'' (from Greek , 'burial' and , 'law') was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientist Ivan Efremov t ...

), past terrestrial ecology, trace fossils, and on

thrips 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 ...

and

praying mantids Mantidae is one of the largest families in the order of praying mantises, based on the type species ''Mantis religiosa''; however, most genera are tropical or subtropical. Historically, this was the only family in the order, and many references ...

. From 1970 Zherikhin organized field trips to collect fossil insects, and particularly those in

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

and

Palaeogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...

fossil resins A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

, to northernmost Siberia (

Taimyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...

), the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

, and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

. The objective was to explore changes in the insect world around the Meso-Cenozoic boundary. One of Zherikhin's most important collaborations was with his former student

Vadim Gratshev Vadim Gennadyevich Gratshev (russian: Вадим Геннадьевич Грачёв, 1 May 196317 October 2006) was one of world leading experts in palaeoentomology. Vadim graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute in 1987 and taught b ...

. Together they produced numerous papers, most famously their seminal phylogenetic study on the hind wing venation of the weevils,Zherikhin V.V., Gratshev V.G. 1995. A comparative study of the hind wing venation of the superfamily Curculionoidea with phylogenetic implications. In: Pakaluk J. , Slipinski S.A. (eds). Biology, Phylogeny, and Classification of Coleoptera. Papers celebrating 80th Birthday of Roy A. Crowson. V. 2. Warszawa: Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii PAN, pp. 634-777 published in a volume celebrating the 80th birthday of

Roy Crowson Roy Albert Crowson (22 November 1914 in Hadlow, Kent – 13 May 1999) was an English biologist who specialised in the taxonomy of beetles. He lectured at the Zoology Department of the University of Glasgow from 1949. He collected beetles and the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zherikhin, Vladimir Russian paleontologists Russian entomologists Coleopterists 1945 births 2001 deaths Scientists from Moscow Moscow State University alumni Soviet entomologists Soviet paleontologists