Ronald James McGinley, 1950–2023

Abstract

respected native bee systematists of his generation, died on January 18, 2023 after a brief illness. Born in Palo Alto, CA on September 30, 1950 and raised in Monterey, he received his undergraduate degree in entomology from UC Davis in 1972 and earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 1978 under Dr. Howell Daly. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Charles D. Michener at the University of Kansas (1978–1979), he worked first as an assistant professor of biology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard (1979–1982) and then joined the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in 1983. It was at the Smithsonian where I assisted in his noteworthy revision of the halictid genus Lasioglossum s.s., which was hailed for its detailed identification keys incorporating numerous scanning electron micrographs. Ron was delightful to work with, and we quickly bonded over our shared interests in native bees and rock music, of which he had an encyclopedic knowledge. On one of his first days at the museum, I tuned the office radio to the now-defunct station WHFS, and an entire hour of songs about bees commenced, surely an encouraging sign. Our friendship continued over the decades until his death. His many important publications included “A catalog and review of immature Apoidea (Hymenoptera)” (McGinley 1989) and, as co-author with Michener and Bryan Danforth, “The Bee Genera of North and Central America (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)” (Michener et al. 1994). His paper “Glossal morphology of the Colletidae and recognition of the Stenotritidae at the family level (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)” (McGinley 1980) led to a change in this family’s place in the phylogeny of the Apoidea as a more derived group than previously considered, a position later confirmed by molecular studies. Ron was always extremely generous with his time and knowledge, and eager to share his own fascination with native bees with interested students. He was an organizer and early instructor of the annual “Bee Course” held at the American Museum of Natural History’s Southwest Research Station in Portal, Arizona. Ron also applied his penchant for classification to playful subjects. He constructed a key to Volkswagen Beetles using their windows, vents, and light housings as characters to distinguish the various model years; a chart of country music songs grouped by the various personal travails common to the genre; and a vast spreadsheet of songs that mention plants and animals, arranged by taxa, titled “A Natural History of Rock & Roll.” Ron married fellow SI employee Kate Smith in 1991, and his affinity for animals made him an avid supporter of her numerous animal rescue and wildlife rehab efforts. Ron had many animal friends. Among the most memorable was his “house opossum” Opie, a favorite of many house guests. He often bestowed whimsical monikers on the members of Kate’s menagerie, a favorite being the longhaired Peruvian guinea pig he dubbed Fabio, after the well-known romance novel cover model. PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 124(4), 2022, pp. 889–890