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Research Associate

Dr Mark R. Shaw

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  2. Dr Mark R. Shaw

Research interests/expertise: Biology and taxonomy of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera), particularly the large superfamily Ichneumonoidea.

Mark joined National Museums Scotland (then the Royal Scottish Museum) in 1980 and became Keeper of Natural History (at the time just Zoology) in 1983, adding Geology to this in 1996 to become Keeper of Natural Sciences until his retirement in 2005. His time as a Research Associate since 2005 is a continuation of his research and curation activity during that period.

Mark’s research includes interests in developmental biology; faunistics, taxonomy (including describing new species) and higher classification; host associations, host repertoires and speciation; and community ecology. Mark’s research is centred on the fauna of the Western Palaearctic Region and he collaborates with other specialists world-wide. The main areas of his current research are the large subfamilies Rogadinae and Microgastrinae, increasingly involving molecular (DNA) studies.

Collection-building has been a constant feature, and National Museums Scotland now holds one of the outstanding collections of European Ichneumonoidea, which is uniquely rich in specimens reared from known hosts (other insects and spiders). Partly this stems from Mark’s own fieldwork of collecting and rearing especially caterpillars, but considerable numbers of reared parasitoids have been provided by entomologists trying to rear other groups. Mark has also been given bulk non-reared parasitoid wasps arising from many field surveys of insects (typically conducted by Malaise trapping) by a variety of others, from which he has selected and mounted many tens of thousands of specimens, as well as from traps he operated himself and general collecting in the field.  Parasitic wasps collected as a by-product of moth-collecting by light have also been donated by many Lepidopterists, with notably large quantities from Sweden and the Balkans.

Because of the size and scope of the collection, it has been possible for Mark to collaborate with international specialists of particular groups (usually subfamilies) in which he has no immediate expertise to identify and catalogue parts of the collection, usually involving joint publication, invariably revealing multiple species not previously detected in Britain and often including the description of new species. Loans from the collection are frequently requested by external specialists undertaking taxonomic revisions, with the return of the specimens authentically identified. Founding a well-researched and well-curated collection of Ichneumonoidea for National Museums Scotland has always been an important part of Mark’s overall research effort.

Mark was awarded the International Society of Hymenopterists' Distinguished Research Medal in 2016 and a Marsh Award for Entomology in 2023.

Listrognathus obnoxius parasitising a Burnet Moth cocoon
Selected publications

Shaw, M.R., Höcherl, A. & Fernandez-Triana, J. 2024. An illustrated key to European genera of Microgastrinae parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) with a recent historical and biological perspective and a guide to available species-level identification resources. ZooKeys  1212: 286–316. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1212.126155

Fernandez-Triana, J., Shaw, M.R., Boudreault, C., Boudin, M. & Broad, G.R. 2020. Annotated and illustrated world checklist of Microgastrinae parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). ZooKeys 920: 1–1089. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.920.39128

Achterberg, C. van, Shaw, M.R. & Quicke, D.L.J. 2020. Revision of the western Palaearctic species of Aleiodes Wesmael (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae). Part 2: Revision of the A. apicalis group. ZooKeys  919: 1–259. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.919.39642

Broad, G.R., Shaw, M.R. & Fitton, M.G. 2018. Ichneumonid Wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea): their Classification and Biology. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 7 (12): i–vi, 1–417.

Takasuka, K., Fritzén, N.R., Tanaka, Y., Matsumoto, R., Maeto, K. & Shaw, M.R. 2018. The changing use of the ovipositor in host shifts by ichneumonid ectoparasitoids of spiders (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae). Parasite  25: https://doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2018011 

 Shaw, M. R. 2017. Anatomy, reach and classification of the parasioid complex of a common British moth, Anthophila fabriciana (L.) (Choreutidae). Journal of Natural History  51 (19-20): 1119–1149. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2017.1315837

Achterberg, C. van & Shaw, M.R. 2016. Revision of the western Palaearctic species of Aleiodes Wesmael (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae). Part 1: Introduction, key to species groups, outlying distinctive species, and revisionary notes on some further species. ZooKeys 639: 1-164. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.639.10893

Broad, G.R., Shaw, M.R. & Godfray, H.C.J. 2016. Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera – Braconidae. Biodiversity Data Journal  4: e8151. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e8151

Shaw, M. R., Horstmann, K. & Whiffin, A. L. 2016. Two hundred and twenty-five species of reared western Palaearctic Campopleginae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in the National Museums of Scotland, with descriptions of new species of Campoplex and Diadegma, and records of fifty-five species new to Britain. Entomologist’s Gazette  67: 177–222.

Shaw, M.R. 2012. Notes on some European Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in the National Museums of Scotland, with twenty species new to Britain, new host data, taxonomic changes and remarks, and descriptions of two new species of Microgaster Latreille. Entomologist’s Gazette  63: 173–201.

Shaw, M. R. & Askew, R. R. 2010. Hymenopterous parasitoids of Diptera. In: Chandler, P. J. (ed.) A Dipterist’s Handbook. Amateur Entomologist’s Society, pp. 347–361.

Shaw, M. R., Stefanescu, C. & Nouhuys, S. van. 2009. Parasitoids of European Butterflies. In: J. Settele, T. Shreeve, M. Konviča & H. Van Dyck (eds.) Ecology of Butterflies in Europe. Cambridge University Press, pp. 130–156.

 

A full list of Mark's publications can be accessed here. 

A list of species described by Mark can be found here. 

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