Marius Aurelian

Coquitlam, BC, Canada

I have started my informal education on the wonderful world of insects more than 16 years ago. This passion instilled in me by my former grade 6 teacher continued to mature as years passed and became increasingly focused on moths. It reached its peak once i acquired my first generator. Formal education on insects started with volunteering (which, incidentally, was the trigger for my continuing passionate study of clearwings) and ended with a Masters degree on semiochemical-based mass trapping of the apple clearwing moth in BC.

Currently, main interests are clearwings (Sesiidae), bag moths (Psychidae) and burnets (Zygaenidae), with a side dish of cicadas (Cicadidae), twisted wings (Strepsiptera), longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) and jewel beetles (Buprestidae). Moths still represent the "main course", so to speak.

As of today, i am still working on a massive clearwing project, which i started back in 2006 as a Directed Studies project during my last year at UBC, Vancouver, Canada. I enjoyed working with clearwings so much that i decided to invest a massive amount of (both mine and my wife's) money, time and even health in order to see this work come to fruition. It will eventually be finished in the form of, hopefully, a book.