Michael S. Engel

Michael S. Engel, FLS (born September 24, 1971) is an American paleontologist and entomologist, notable for contributions to insect evolutionary biology and classification. In connection with his studies he has undertaken field expeditions in Central Asia, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, eastern Africa, the high Arctic, and South and North America, and has published more than 580 papers in scientific journals.^[1] Some of Engel's research images were included in exhibitions on the aesthetic value of scientific imagery.^[2]

Early life and education

Engel married Kellie Kristen Magill on April 25, 2009, in a ceremony performed by Engel's father.^[3]

Career

In 2006–2007 Engel resumed regular activity in the American Museum of Natural History while a Guggenheim Fellow,^[4] completing work on the geological history of termites and their influence on carbon recycling in paleoenvironments. This period also permitted significant work on the comprehensive work, Treatise on the Termites of the World.^[5] In 2008 he received the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society and subsequently the Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society of London (2009) for his contributions to the fields of systematic entomology and paleontology. In Spring 2014 he was awarded the Scholarly Achievement Award of the University of Kansas for his contributions to the evolutionary and developmental origins of insect flight^[6]; and in 2015 the International Cooperation Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.^[7]

Eponymy

The following species or genera have been proposed in honor of Dr. Engel:

1. Lasioglossum (Dialictus) engeli Genaro, 2001 (a halictine bee from Cuba)
2. Braunsapis engeli Jobiraj, 2004 (a small allodapine bee from southern India)
3. † Cretostylops engeli Grimaldi & Kathirithamby, 2005 (the oldest fossil Strepsiptera, from Myanmar)
4. † Sigmophlebia engeli Béthoux & Beckemeyer, 2007 (a protorthopteran from the Early Permian of Oklahoma)
5. Triepeolus engeli Rightmyer, 2008 (an epeoline bee from Texas)
6. † Archaeoellipes engeli Heads, 2010 (a pygmy mole cricket from the Early Miocene of the Dominican Republic)
7. Anotylus engeli Makranczy, 2011 (an oxyteline rove beetle from Bolivia)
8. † Engellestes Nel & al., 2012 (a genus of damselfly-like odonates from the Permian of Russia)
9. Melitta engeli Michez, 2012 (a melittine bee from Kyrgyzstan)
10. † Xenosycorax engeli Azar & Salamé, 2015 (a psychodid fly in Cretaceous amber from New Jersey)
11. † Kronocharon engeli Wunderlich, 2015 (a whipspider in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar)

Incomplete bibliography

• Engel, M.S. (2001) A monograph of the Baltic amber bees and evolution of the Apoidea (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 259: 1-192.
• Engel, M.S. & Grimaldi, D.A. (2002) The first Mesozoic Zoraptera (Insecta). American Museum Novitates 3362: 1-20.
• Engel, M.S. & Grimaldi, D.A. (2004) New light shed on the oldest insect. Nature 427: 627-630.
• Engel, M.S., Davis, S.R. & Prokop, J. (2013) Insect wings: The evolutionary developmental origins of Nature’s first flyers. In: Minelli, A., Boxshall, G. & Fusco, G. (eds.), Arthropod Biology and Evolution: Molecules, Development, Morphology: 269–298. Springer Verlag, Berlin.
• Garrouste, R., Clément, G., Nel, P., Engel, M.S., Grandcolas, P., D’Haese, C., Lagebro, L., Denayer, J., Gueriau, P., Lafaite, P., Olive, S., Prestianni, C. & Nel, A. (2012) A complete insect from the Late Devonian period. Nature 488: 82–85.
• Grimaldi, D. & Engel, M.S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82149-5. 
• Gu, J., Montealegre-Z, F., Robert, D., Engel, M.S., Qiao, G. & Ren, D. (2012) Wing stridulation in a Jurassic katydid (Insecta, Orthoptera) produced low-pitched musical calls to attract females. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 109: 3868–3873.
• Huang, D., Engel, M.S., Cai, C., Wu, H. & Nel, A. (2012) Diverse transitional giant fleas from the Mesozoic era of China. Nature 483: 201–204.
• Huang, D., Nel, A., Cai, C., Lin, Q. & Engel, M.S. (2013) Amphibious flies and paedomorphism in the Jurassic period. Nature 495: 94–97.
• Krishna, K., Grimaldi, D.A., Krishna, V. & Engel, M.S. (2013) Treatise on the Termites of the World. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 377: 1-2470.
• Michez, D., Vanderplanck, M. & Engel, M.S. (2012) Fossil bees and their plant associates. In: Patiny, S. (ed.), Evolution of Plant-Pollinator Relationships: 103-164. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Nel, A., Roques, P., Nel, P., Prokin, A.A., Bourgoin, T., Prokop, J., Szwedo, J., Azar, D., Desutter-Grandcolas, L., Wappler, T., Garrouste, R., Coty, D., Huang, D., Engel, M.S. & Kirejtshuk, A.G. (2013) The earliest known holometabolous insects. Nature 503: 257–261.
• Pérez-de la Fuente, R., Delclòs, X., Peñalver, E., Speranza, M., Wierzchos, J., Ascaso, C. & Engel, M.S. (2012) Early evolution and ecology of camouflage in insects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 109: 21414–21419.

References

External links

• Faculty page at the University of Kansas
• Guggenheim Fellows
• Tree of Life contributions by Dr. Engel