Charles Duncan Michener (September 22, 1918 – November 1, 2015) was an American

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 ara ...

born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. He was a leading expert on bees, his ''magnum opus'' being ''The Bees of the World'' published in 2000. __TOC__

Biography

Much of his career was devoted to the

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic t ...

and natural history of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...

s. His first peer-reviewed publication was in 1934, at the age of 16. He received his BS in 1939 and his PhD in

entomology 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 ara ...

in 1941, from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. He remained in California until 1942, when he became an assistant curator of

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

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 int ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1944 he published a classification system for bees that was soon adopted worldwide, and was in use until 1993 and 1995, when he co-authored new classifications. From 1943 to 1946, Michener also served as a first lieutenant and captain in the United States Army Sanitary Corps, where he researched insect-borne diseases, and described the life cycle of the common

chigger ''Trombicula'', known as chiggers, red bugs, scrub-itch mites, or berry bugs, are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) in the Trombiculidae family. In their larval stage, they attach to various animals, including humans, and feed on skin, ...

. Michener joined the faculty of the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

in 1948 as associate professor of entomology. He was chairman of the Entomology Department from 1949 to 1961, and then again from 1972 to 1975. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 1955, and again in 1966. He was awarded the Watkins Distinguished Professor of Entomology in 1958, won a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

to Australia in 1958, was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

in 1965, and became director of the Snow Entomological Museum (now part of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, itself now a division within the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute) in 1974. In February 2001, the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...

gave its prestigious R.R. Hawkins Award for the Outstanding Professional Reference or Scholarly Work of 2000 to Michener's opus, ''The Bees of the World''.Charles Duncan Michener Book
/ref> Michener's work on social evolution in the Halictidae in the 1960s helped set the stage for the sociobiology revolution of the 1970s, with E. O. Wilson relying to a great degree on Michener's concepts regarding the paths from solitary to highly social life. Along with his research activities and teaching, Michener was the editor of the academic journals ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'' from 1962 to 1964, the associate editor of the '' Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics'' from 1970 to 1985, and the American editor of '' Insectes Sociaux'' from 1954 to 1955, again from 1970 to 1985. He served as president of the

Kansas Entomological Society Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to t ...

in 1950, president of the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1967, president of the Society of Systematic Zoology in 1968, and president of the American Society of Naturalists in 1978. In 1977 he began his term as the president of the

International Union for the Study of Social Insects The International Union for the Study of Social Insects has at its purpose to promote and encourage the study of social insects and other social organisms in the broadest sense. Both research and the dissemination of knowledge about social insects ...

and organized the 9th International Congress in 1982. He is also an honorary member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. At the time of his retirement in 1989, Michener had already published over 340 articles and books, primarily on bee systematics and biology; in the same year, a fund was started with the University of Kansas Endowment Association for a scientific lecture series in Michener's name. He continued to publish through 2015. Michener's long career also included the training of more than 80 master's and doctoral students, among them Jim Baker, Edward M. Barrows, Suzanne W. T. Batra, Michael D. Breed, Denis Brothers, Sydney Cameron, Jim Cane, Paul R. Ehrlich, George Eickwort, Les Greenberg, William Gutierrez, Alexander Hawkins, Dwight Kamm, Robert Minckley, William Ramirez, Radclyffe Roberts, Brian H. Smith, Thomas Snyder, William Wcislo, John Wenzel, Alvaro Wille, and Douglas Yanega.

References

Selected bibliography

* * Michener, C. D. (1974). ''The Social Behavior of the Bees''. Harvard University Press. 404 pp. * Michener, C. D. (2000). ''The Bees of the World''. Johns Hopkins University Press. 913 pp. {{DEFAULTSORT:Michener, Charles Duncan 1918 births 2015 deaths American entomologists Hymenopterists Insect-borne diseases People associated with the American Museum of Natural History Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Scientists from Kansas University of California, Berkeley alumni