This post is dedicated to my colleague and long-time NMNH curator of Aquatic Insects and Neuropterida Ollie Flint who passed away on 18 May 2019. He will be sorely missed by his family, his colleagues in the Department of Entomology, and the entomological community at large.
Ollie had an amazing career dedicated to the study of aquatic insects (Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera) and in particular Trichoptera as well as Neuropterida and Mecoptera and the curation of these important collections at the Smithsonian NMNH. He described more than 1,200 species of caddisflies and included countless more in his many research articles.
Below are the short obituary written by the Department of Entomology and shared by Sant Director Kirk Johnson with NMNH staff on 24 May 2019 as well as photographs and presentation slides of the celebration of Ollie's career at the NMNH held on 7 October 2019.
A comprehensive obituary has now been published by Steve Roble in Banisteria and can be downloaded here ( Download Roble_2019). Another obituary was written by Ollie's caddisfly colleagues Ralph Holzenthal and Joaquin Bueno in Braueria including a list of all publications, caddisfly species named by Ollie, and species named after Ollie and his wife Carol Flint (thanks to Dr Simon Vitecek for providing a scanned copy, Download Holzenthal_bueno_2020).
Photographs of Ollie Flint by Flint family, Bill Murphy, Dave Ruiter, and Paul Frandsen.
Ollie collected insects world-wide including Antarctica as can be seen from the below map (also available here), which is based on collecting events in the NMNH EMu database as of September 2019 (we are working on locating the Antarctica specimens). These specimens can also be explored at Bionomia (bionomia.net/Q21283508) based on data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, gbif.org).
Ollie also identified specimens in the Smithsonian USNM and numerous other museums. An overview can be accessed at Bionomia. These data will change over time as more and more specimens are being databased and made available to GBIF (www.gbif.org).
One measure to appreciate the impact Ollie had is to list the species named after him and his wife Carol. As of January 2020, three genera and 99 species in 11 orders have been named after Ollie and Carol by 86 authors (source John Morse, Clemson University, and Steve Roble, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation).
List of patronyms compiled by John Morse and Steve Roble ( Download Oliver-Carol_Flint_Patronyms_4Jan2020_Morse+Roble).
Short obituary shared with NMNH staff on 24 May 2019
Dear Friends,
It is with great sadness that I write to tell you that our dear colleague and friend Oliver "Ollie" S. Flint, Jr., Emeritus Curator of Neuropteroids in the Department of Entomology, passed away at age 87 this past Saturday, May 18th. Ollie was a passionate and energetic presence in our museum community for almost 60 years and was active in the collection until very recently. His constant smile and devotion to his work and our museum’s mission will be sorely missed.
Ollie grew up in Amherst, MA just down the street from renowned crane fly expert C.P. Alexander, who became his mentor in all things entomological. Ollie received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts before earning his Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University in 1960. He joined the NMNH Department of Entomology in 1961 as Curator of Neuropteroids, serving in this role for 35 years before becoming an Emeritus Curator in 1996. During his long career in the museum, Ollie curated a number of aquatic insect orders including Trichoptera (caddisflies), Megaloptera (fishflies), Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies), and Odonata (dragonflies) as well as Neuroptera (lacewings), Mecoptera (scorpionflies), and Raphidioptera (snakeflies) – a collection of more than 12,000 species and almost 400,000 specimens. Ollie was a knowledgeable and dedicated curator for these groups, with our important dragonfly collection notably becoming the best curated group within all of Entomology.
Ollie authored more than 230 papers and books on aquatic insects. This remarkable scientific output spanned almost 70 years; his first paper was in 1951 and publications are in press. The majority of his research output focused on the systematics of Neotropical caddisflies, a group for which he was a world-recognized authority. Ollie described more than 1,200 species, 21 genera, and one family of caddisflies during his career. Ralph Holzenthal (University of Minnesota) relates that his own dissertation research and those of nine of his Ph.D. students depended almost entirely on specimens collected by Ollie. His and his wife Carol’s generosity in helping students and hosting visiting researchers was unlimited. Ollie loved fieldwork as probably only few people do, and his collecting and research resulted in the most comprehensive and best curated caddisfly collection in the world, particularly for Neotropical species. He also collected and deposited specimens of at least 13 other insect orders throughout the world, including Antarctica, adding more than 26,000 specimens of dragonflies and damselflies to the USNM collection as well as untold thousands of caddisflies. His local field work in collaboration with retired USDA scientist David Smith involved intensive malaise trapping that resulted in numerous new state records for several insect groups. More generally, Ollie was an avid hiker and an expert on the natural history and entomology of the greater Washington, DC area. Throughout his career, Ollie held key positions and received significant honors from organizations including the Entomological Society of America, the North American Benthological Society, and the Virginia Museum of Natural History Foundation (another local organization, like ours, particularly dear to his heart). Ollie was honored for his expertise in caddisflies at the 12th International Symposium on Trichoptera in 2006 in Mexico City, as can be seen on the “greater than life size mural” hanging on the 6th floor of the East Court opposite his office. Three genera and more than 60 species from six insect orders have been named in Ollie's honor to recognize his extensive contributions to the field.
Please join me in expressing our deepest sympathies to Ollie’s wife Carol, his daughters Cathy, Lisa, and Maria, and their mother Ruth.
Sant Director Kirk Johnson
Celebration of the career of Ollie Flint at NMNH on 7 October 2019
Program of event (Download Flinto_celebration_2019-10-07_program).
Welcome by NMNH Deputy Director Ian Owens.
Introduction by Department of Entomology Chair Seán Brady.
Reflections by John Morse (Clemson University, retired).
Presentation slides by John Morse (Download MorseJ_07Oct2019_small).
Reflections by Ralph Holzenthal (University of Minnesota).
Presentation slides by Ralph Holzenthal (Download 02_holzenthalr_small).
Reflections by Desiree Robertson (National Park Service).
Presentation slides by Desiree Robertson (Download 03_RobertsonD_small).
Reflections by Joaquin Bueno (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, retired).
Presentation slides by Joaquin Bueno (Download 04_buenoj).
Reflections by Lourdes Chamorro (USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory).
Presentation slides by Lourdes Chamorro (Download 05_chamorro_small).
Reflections by Paul Frandsen (Brigham Young University).
Presentation slides by Paul Frandsen (Download 06_frandsenp_small).
Reflections by Atilano Contreras-Ramos (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico).
Presentation slides by Atilano Contreras-Ramos (Download 7_Contreras_small).
Reflections by Larry Stevens (Museum of Northern Arizona).
Reflections by Kyle DeMarr (UC Berkeley & Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution).
Reflections by Steven Roble (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation).
Presentation slides by Steven Roble ( Download 10_RobleS).
Reflections by Chris Thompson (USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory, retired).
Reflections by Wayne Mathis (NMNH Department of Entomology, retired).
Reflections by Richard Greene (Smithsonian Institution Libraries).
Presentation slides by Torsten Dikow (NMNH Department of Entomology, Download Dikowt_presentation) highlighting the collection, number of holotypes described by Ollie at USNM, and specimens of Odonata collected by him.
Closing by the Flint family – Carol Flint (2nd from left) and Ollie's daughters Lisa, Cathy, and Maria (from left to right).
Impressions of the social gathering to mingle and share stories about Ollie over light snacks and beverages.
Updates:
2020-03-03 - a newly published obituary by Steve Roble was added.
2021-03-30 - another obituary by Ralph Holzenthal and Joaquin Bueno was added.
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