James Liebherr

While serving as curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection from 1983-2018, Prof. Liebherr oversaw several moves and expansions of the collection, with associated improvements in curation, type storage, and website development.

His research deals with biosystematics of carabid beetles, focusing on the platynine carabid beetles of North America including Mexico and the Caribbean, and all native carabid beetles of Hawaii. His Hawaiian work led naturally to studies of related carabid beetles in Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Polynesia. His publications are available on ResearchGate.

During his career, he taught various courses, including Insect Biology, Larval Insect Biology, Principles and Practice of Historical Biogeography, and Zoological Nomenclature. He supervised many successful graduate students who have gone on to illustrious careers.