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.  His current work concentrates on the phylogenetic relationships between genera of Ceratopogonidae 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.  A 456-page world revision of the Corethrellidae was recently published in Zootaxa. 

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 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.

A catalog of the Ceratopogonidae (pdf, 1.1 MB) of the world currently recognizes (as of 9 July 2009) 5978 extant and 265 extinct valid species (pdf, 52K).   The distribution of the species of Europe has been summarized with R. Szadziewski. Two subfamilies, 12 genera, and 249 species have been described as new taxa (pdf, 36 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 (60 K).

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

Phone: (250) 833-0931
Email: aborkent@sunlite.ca