Dr John La Salle

Dr John La Salle: head of the Australian National Insect Collection

Dr John La Salle’s goal is to make the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) a dynamic online resource which delivers information to support research activities and inform policy decisions.

• 9 March 2006 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities 
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

As Head of the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC), Dr La Salle wants to unlock the information stored in the Collection by making it freely available to a wide user community for a variety of purposes. 

The ambitious goal includes creating an online resource that will dynamically deliver insect information.

It is hoped that this will assist in supporting a wide variety of research activities and informed policy decisions.

Background

Dr La Salle's main area of research has been on the systematics of the Hymenoptera family Eulophidae (Chalcidoidea) and he has 20 years research experience in the systematics and biology of parasitic Hymenoptera. 

This is a large family, with just over 4 000 described species. Dr La Salle co-authored a paper (Gauthier et al., 2000) which presented a new classification for this family that differed considerably from previous thinking.

He is interested in many aspects of parasitic Hymenoptera, including:

• the systematics, biology and evolution of parasitic Hymenoptera
• their significance in both natural and agricultural ecosystems.

Academic qualifications

Dr La Salle received his Doctorate in Entomology from the University of California, Riverside, California, USA, in 1984.   

Achievements

Dr La Salle has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters, with over 90 different co-authors from around the world.

Find out more about the Australian National Insect Collection.