Biography:
Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University, 2004
I manage the American Museum of Natural History Bee Database Project. Specimen records from this project are displayed on maps at www.discoverlife.org together with bee records from other institutions such as the University of Kansas and USGS along with GBIF records. As of June 2009 we have full label data available on maps for more than 83,000 of the ca. 400,000 AMNH bee specimens (these are in the AMNH_BEE [singular] database). More than 86,000 literature records also appear on these maps (these are in the AMNH_BEES [plural] database).
Maps based on literature and/or specimen data are now available for most of the world's 19,000+ valid and nominally valid bee species. These have reviewed as part of recently completed ITIS-led World Bee Checklist. Names of these valid bee species (and selected apoid wasps) are searchable in my "Apoidea species" guide here:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Apoidea_species
A link to Credits can be found on each species page.
Maps should be rather complete at the state and provincial level for the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Maps can be generated by clicking "Global Mapper" to the right of the small world map icon in the Links section of each genus and species page. These can then be modified in various ways using the "Make Map" feature. By clicking on individual dots on the map you can view details for each record.
I maintain a taxonomic and distributional database for world bees, including records from both published and unpublished sources, and these are the basis for the literature records displayed on the maps. State-level records are also incorporated in the bee identification guides developed by Sam Droege and colleagues. Distributional data for the USA were compiled in collaboration with many colleagues, especially Sam Droege (primarily eastern USA) and Terry Griswold (primarily western USA), who each generously shared hundreds of new state records for bee species.
I have more than 25 years experience as a birder and enjoy applying techniques pioneered by field ornithologists to the identification of aculeate Hymenoptera.
My research interests include the taxonomy, biogeography, identification, and phylogeny of all Apoidea, including apoid (=sphecid) wasps in addition to bees.
Tips on using Discover Life maps:
1. Go to the Links section of a genus or species page and click "Global map", found to the right of the small rectangular world map icon, to generate a map.
2. Add an underscore after the generic name to generate a map with each species listed separately and mapped in a different color and/or symbol (unless the genus has too many species), e.g., for the squash bee genus Peponapis:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Peponapis_
3. Map multiple genera of bees and/or plants by separating generic names with commas and no spaces, e.g., to map the squash bee genera Peponapis and Xenoglossa together with their squash hosts in genus Cucurbita:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Cucurbita,Peponapis,Xenoglossa
Zoom into maps by clicking blank areas next to but not exactly on the dots.
When zooming in, note that more records are present than appear on the global map. Note also that points for the last taxon listed are superimposed upon those for earlier-listed taxa, e.g., on the following map Nomada (cleptoparasitic bee) points obscure the underlying Andrena (host bee) points:
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Andrena,Nomada
