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The Spencer Entomological Collection | history | volunteer | people | founder | contact | links
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G.J. Spencer
George Spencer (1888-1966) was born in southern India. He became interested in insects and snakes at a very young age, and expanded that
interest during his undergraduate and graduate education, which he received at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph and the University of
Illinois, respectively. In between his undergraduate degree and his M.Sc., he served overseas during World War I.
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After completing his Masters, he joined the University of British Columbia in 1924. He played a major role in founding the UBC Zoology department,
where he taught general zoology, histology, and entomology. He was an inspired teacher. He was also an avid collector, and he founded the UBC
Entomological Collection immediately upon joining the university. The BC southern interior was his favorite collection locality, and he collected
widely and often, as shown by the great variety of new insects he described.
Dr. Spencer also took an interest in public outreach, and he enjoyed helping the public with their insect pest problems (even their imaginary
ones!). His own research was focused on applied entomology, with projects on ants, earwigs, carpet beetles, stored-product insects, and household
and garden pests of the Vancouver area.
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Some insects named in Dr. Spencer's honour: click on images to enlarge in new window
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Cramptonomyia spenceri Alexander
–a crane-fly like fly common in the University Endowment Lands in spring
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Stictotarsus spenceri (Leech)
–a water beetle from alkaline ponds in the interior grasslands
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Ennearthron spenceri (Hatch)
–a bracket-fungus associated small beetle in coastal forests
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Thrassis spenceri Wagner
–a flea from hoary marmots of Granite Mountain in the BC Interior
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Eureum spenceri Emerson and Prat
–a bird louse from Black Swifts on the UBC campus
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Physconelloides spenceri Emerson and Ward
–a bird louse from Band-tailed Pigeons
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