Alexandre P. Aguiar

• e-mail: aguiar.2@osu.edu
• s-mail: The Ohio State University, Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus OH 43212-1157.
• Phone: (614) 292-2750
• Fax: (614) 292-7774

• Ph.D. 2000, The Ohio State University
• M.S. 1994, Universidade Federal do Parana (Brazil) [Thesis work developed at Purdue University (USA)]
• B.S. 1990, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo (Brazil)
• Curriculum vitae

My work is focused on the systematics of the family Stephanidae (Hymenoptera). I started by revising the South American genus Hemistephanus, acquiring the "know-how" to work with this difficult family. For my Ph.D., I have been working on a phylogenetic revision of the genera. At the same time, I have been working on a revision of the Western species and the Australian species. For the first work, I found two undescribed species from the continental USA, and several other from Mexico and a few from South America. The Australian Stephanidae were barely touched by previous authors, and many undescribed species are being found. A world catalog for the Stephanidae is also being prepared. A biogeographical study and a database for the family have also been started, with some information already available in the web. I contacted nearly 400 museums for specimens, but "only" about 1/4 of these had material to loan.

For more details, check out The Stephanidae Homepage.

A Few Other Interests

In the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil.

• The Human Nature. The quest to know how we become what we are, and why we behave the way we do has always deeply interested me. It was only recently, however, that I started reading more about the subject, and writing about related topics. If you can read Portuguese, visit the following sites for some of my essays:
  • Peco
    
  • OriginalisNatura (upcoming)
    
  
  
• Graphic Semiology (or "Graphique"). The most powerful, useful, and ignored methodology for data manipulation to date. Check out the following for a dramatic and permanent change in the way you will look and evaluate data of any nature:
  • Bertin, J. 1977. La graphique et le traitement graphique de l'information. Paris, Flammarion. 277pp.
  • Bonin, S. 1975. Initiation à la graphique. Paris, Epi. 170pp.
    There are no good Websites on the subject. You can try the following, but they do not give a good idea of how Graphic Semiology can be used in Biological Sciences:

    1. The visual grammar of information graphics Good info, but lack of illustrations and examples make it hard to swallow.
    2. Jacques Bertin In French.

• Heitor Villa-Lobos. Great admiration for his powerful personality, infinite creativity, his intensely lived life, and his compositions, especially the ones for acoustic guitar, and cello.

• Acoustic Guitar. I enjoy immensely playing the works of the Brazilians Villa-Lobos, Joao Pernambuco, and some of the Chorinho composers. I have also a great affinity for Guitar music from the Classical Period, especially by F. Tarrega, M. Giulianni, and the genial Fernando Sor.