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Dennis Haines, Contributing Editor
Full name:
Dennis Haines
City, state, country:
Tulare, CA, USA
Biography:

I began my career as a plant taxonomist and local authority on the Sierran flora. Unfortunately I couldn't find steady work that would allow me support my family or my passion for taxonomy. I finally settled in as an inspector for the Agricultural Commissioner's Office in Tulare County. Here I was able to lobby for a position to be created that would have to be knowledgable in all aspects of the local flora and fauna. To that end I became an entomologist. I find my botany background very useful in working with and understanding the biological needs of insects. Over the course of the past 30 years I have discovered numerous new species of insects from the southern Sierra Nevada and Inner Coast Range of the San Joaquin Valley. Its always fun to find something new and a great honor when someone names an insect after you.

At present I am working on the genus Anambodera (Buprestidae) and the various forms of Cicindela tranquebarica and Omus (Cicindelidae) from California. I also have a passion for Dryinidae (Hymenoptera) and Acroceridae (Diptera).

I am also curator of the Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner Collection that contains approximately 35,000 specimens. Within this collection is the Wagner/Scott Collection of Coleoptera. This material was primarily collected in the 1930's by Roy S. Wagner and Franklin T. Scott, and identified by the authorities of the day (Van Dyke, Van Duzee, Blaisdell, etc.).

My job requires me to be a generalist and a know it all. So I'm afraid my interests are a bit scattered.