Department of Entomology

Texas A&M University

Faculty


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Name: John D. Oswald
Title: Assistant Professor
Mailing Address: Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77845-2475
Phone Number: 409-862-3507
Fax Number: 409-845-6305
E-Mail Address: j-oswald@tamu.edu
Education: B.S. Forest Management, Oregon State Univ., 1982
M.S. Entomology, Oregon State Univ., 1985
Ph.D. Systematic Entomology, Cornell Univ., 1991
On Line Documents:
Bibliography of the Neuropterida
Catalog of the Neuropterida Genera of the World
NeuroWeb

Research Emphasis: The research conducted in my laboratory focuses on investigations of phylogeny, taxonomy and biogeography of insects belonging to the superorder Neuropterida--orders Neuroptera, Megaloptera and Raphidioptera. These insects are of economic interest because their larval stages are highly predaceous, and of evolutionary interest because they are among the most primitive of all holometabolous insects.
Teaching and Research Activities: My teaching opportunities include instruction of the courses Insect Systematics and biology I (Ento 301) and Phylogeny and Classification of Insects (Ento 602). Insect Systematics and Biology I is the first semester of a two- semester, upper level undergraduate, course sequence designed to teach the identification, classification, and biologies of hexapod families. A collection requirement and numerous field trips provide students with opportunities to get to know insects as living organisms as well as pinned specimens. Phylogeny and Classification of Insects is a graduate course designed to explore our knowledge of the phylogeny of insects and how identified groups are arranged into classifications. Special attention is given to character systems that have figured prominently in the evolution, classification, and/or phylogenetic inference of major insect groups.

My research activities center around a continuing interest in the higher phylogeny of the neuropterid insect orders Neuroptera, Megaloptera and Raphidioptera. Current (1995) activities include ongoing work on (1) a species-level world catalogue of the superorder Neuropterida, (2) a comprehensive, electronically accessible, bibliography of the literature of the Neuropterida, (3) investigations of the higher phylogeny of the superfamily Myrmeleontoidea (the antlions and their allies), and (4) descriptive and revisionary work in the families Nymphidae, Polystoechotidae and Hemerobiidae.

Selected Publications:

Oswald, J.D. 1994. A new phylogenetically basal subfamily of brown lacewings from Chile (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae). Entomologica Scandinavica 25:295-302.

Oswald, J.D. 1993. Phylogeny, taxonomy and biogeography of extant silky lacewings (Insecta: Neuroptera: Psychopsidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 40:1-65.

Oswald, J.D. 1993. Revision and cladistic analysis of the world genera of the family Hemerobiidae (Insecta: Neuroptera). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 101:143-299.

Oswald, J.D.; Penny, N.D. 1991. Genus-group names of the Neuroptera, Megaloptera and Raphidioptera of the world. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 147:1-94.