In memory of Stephen Thorpe (@stephen_thorpe)
It’s with great sadness that we record the shocking and sudden loss of Stephen Ernest Thorpe on 24th August 2024, a talented freelance entomologist, biodiversity expert, and volunteer.
Stephen was born in England on 27th January 1970. He gained an MA (Philosophy) from the University of Auckland in 1997, and became an independent researcher in entomology from 1998.
Stephen has worked at a number of organisations including Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and the Auckland Museum. From 2008–2011, Stephen was a Research Associate at The University of Auckland. These placements have been largely voluntary, without income, or at best through an occasional contract. Due to these circumstances, he led a frugal and unassuming life.
In recent years, Stephen found a base at the Whau River Catchment Trust offices at the Blockhouse Bay Tennis Club, and it was on the tennis club grounds where he was needlessly taken from us. He worked there nearly every day on a voluntary basis and right until the end actively contributed to the iNaturalist NZ – Mātaki Taiao citizen science and biodiversity recording platform.
The last observation uploaded by Stephen was of a Shortnosed Kauri Weevil (Xenocnema spinipes), where people have also posted comments on his passing. Stephen’s last community identification, likely less than an hour before his death, was of a Bagworm Moth (Lepidoscia heliochares).
As summarised on his profile, Stephen’s contributions to iNaturalist are prolific and exceptional. He posted 28,807 observations of 5,333 species and contributed a whopping 92,461 identifications to the community.
But these figures only tell part of the story. His identification skills were phenomenal, and over a wide range of organisms, not only within his specialist area of insects, but also all sorts of other animals, plants, and fungi. For example, the records made the day before his death included weevils, flies, moths, snails, ferns, and mosses.
As confirmed by many statements of gratitude from our iNat community, Stephen always willingly and freely shared his knowledge with others. He was beloved by numerous amateur entomologists for providing encouragement, useful information, and especially his numerous and prompt identifications. Stephen’s abilities were also well respected by academics, albeit with an occasional prolonged debate following differences of viewpoint. He loved the highly involved taxonomic exchanges with members of the Taxacom mailing list.
In addition to his contributions to iNaturalist and Taxacom, Stephen also made major contributions to Wikispecies, ZooBank, and other taxonomic/biodiversity resources.
He was especially valued by biosecurity agencies for finding and identifying new pest incursions, and monitoring weeds, pathogens and biocontrol agents.
As a reflection of his entomological research contributions, Stephen has had more than a dozen insect species named for him. These include:
Stephen leaves us with a huge legacy, and he prophetically states on his profile that “It is my intention that all my observations on iNaturalist remain there in perpetuity (i.e. after my death).”
Thank you, Stephen, for your incredible mahi – although your contributions will endure, you will be sorely missed.
