Laurie Cookson

Joined: Oct 23, 2021 Last Active: Oct 3, 2024 iNaturalist Australia

Retired (photo is 55+ years old), with more time for entomology. I did my PhD on the taxonomy of Limnoriidae (gribbles), which are marine crustaceans that bore into wood, seaweed and seagrass, leading to the description of 19 new species.
These days I spend time as an Honorary Associate at Museums Victoria, where I help sort the vast insect collection and incorporate further specimens from my own fairly large private collection. I mainly work on beetles and bugs.
I’m not a photographer, but can take images on a Saxon 9” LCD Digital Stereo Microscope. They don’t have much depth of field, and can be a bit washed out, but it does let me get closer to some of the characteristics used for identification.
My list of papers (none on insect taxonomy) can be found at Research Gate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lawrence-Cookson)

For my thoughts on insect decline, see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364342210_Reminiscences_from_50_years_of_insect_collecting

As a naturalist, you might be interested in this article on wildness, see https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/eco.2011.0028

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