Borkent, Art  (1953 -      )

Art Borkent is a world expert on the systematics of Ceratopogonidae (biting midges, no-see-ums), Corethrellidae (frog-biting midges), and Chaoboridae (phantom midges) and has broad interests in the phylogenetic relationships of other nematocerous Diptera at the family level. A description of the pupae of Culicomorpha, providing homologies and a phylogenetic interpretation of the relationships between the included families is in press.  His current work concentrates on the phylogenetic relationships between the genera and the incredible fossil amber record of this family.  A large project on the larvae and pupae of Ceratopogonidae at the generic level as well as a number of generic revisions are currently under way.  The 456-page world revision of the Corethrellidae published in 2008 was given the 2010 J.O. Westwood Award by the Royal Entomological Society for the best taxonomic work on a group of insects, worldwide (award presented biennially). 

Another major activity is the systematics of the Ceratopogonidae of Costa Rica, which is being supported as part of the "Biodiversity Resources Development Project" developed in part by the National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) in Costa Rica.  He was on the organizing committee for the Diptera portion of this project and assistant editor for the recently published two-volume Manual of Central American Diptera.  As part of the latter project, he has written chapters for Chaoboridae, Corethrellidae, and Dixidae and has co-authored chapters on the Ceratopogonidae, the phylogeny of the Diptera, a family level key to the larvae and a family level key to the adults. Revisions of various Costa Rican taxa continue (especially of Parabezzia, various subgenera of Forcipomyia, and a few rare small genera).

Various chapters are being prepared for the upcoming Manual of Afrotropical Diptera, spearheaded by Ashley Kirk-Spriggs on Ceratopogonidae, Chaoboridae, Corethrellidae and the family key to larvae of Diptera.

A catalog of the Ceratopogonidae (pdf, 1.9 MB) of the world currently recognizes (as of February 28, 2012) 6089 extant and 269 extinct valid species (pdf, 82K). The complete catalog includes all species of Culicoides in a single alphabetical list. Another document provides our current, and rather messy, understanding of the subgeneric classification (pdf, 274K) of this large genus.  The distribution of the species of Europe has been summarized with R. Szadziewski. Both Nearctic and Neotropical catalogs have been published in recent years (see publication list) Two subfamilies, 12 genera, and 250 species have been described as new taxa (pdf, 29 K) in Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, Corethrellidae, Culicidae, Cecidomyiidae, and Dixidae.

A good source of further information about Ceratopogonidae is the Ceratopogonidae Information Exchange.

Working independently since 1989, he is a research associate with the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, U.S.A. and Instituto de Biodiversidad in Costa Rica. A list of Art Borkent's publications is available in pdf (78 K).

Address: 691-8th Ave. SE, Salmon Arm, British Columbia, V1E 2C2, Canada.

Phone: (250) 833-0931
Email: artborkent@telus.net