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Blaine Mathison, Contributing Editor
Full name:
Blaine Mathison
City, state, country:
Salt Lake City, UT
Biography:

ARE YOU HERE BECAUSE I FRASSED YOUR PICS?
Please do not take offense to it. I take several criteria into account when deciding on Frassing. The most important things I consider for keeping an image are with regards to the usefulness of the image for helping others ID specimens/insects. Things I look at are: 1) is the image in focus; 2) are diagnostic features visible; 3) is it cropped well 4) if a pinned specimen, does it represent proper mounting technique 5) was it photographed on a natural (or helpful with regards to color and seeing features) background, and 6) others.

PLEASE NOTE: I do NOT take BG data points into consideration when decinding on frassing. Most BG data points are published in the literature. They only time I take data points into consideration for a sub-standard image is if it is a previously unpublished record or marks a noticeable range expanse of an exotic. Please note even in those cases, the data points are not of much value without a voucher specimen deposited in a reputable personal or institutional collection.

I am a professional microbiologist and entomologist. My job includes the identification of insects and other arthropods of medical/public health importance.

I have been collecting and identifying insects (mostly beetles) since 1985. My personl interests in Entomology focuses on the Nearctic click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae and Throscidae. My focus is primarily on the fauna of the southeast (AL, GA, FL, SC, MS, NC and TN) and the Southwest, including my home state, Arizona and my current state of Utah. However, I am building a reference collection for North America and welcome specimens from the continental United States, Canada and Alaska.

I offer to voucher-ID elaterids and throscids for BugGuide. If you would like to send me specimens for identification, please contact me via my email address.

I also collect insect/arthropod/animal toys, models, figures and replicas!

I am into weightlifting, running, and swimming.