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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Floyd Shockley

Collections Manager
Department / Division
Entomology
Education
  • B.A. Westminster College
  • M.S. University of Missouri
  • Ph.D. University of Georgia
Research Interests

I oversee all aspects of collection management, logistics, purchasing and property management for the Department of Entomology, providing oversight of the National Insect Collection (100,000+ type specimens, 35 million+ specimens) and interacting with staff from the three agencies and 4 units that comprise the Combined Entomology Department (SI, USDA-SEL, USDA-APHIS, and DoD-WRBU). I serve as chair of the Entomology Collections Committee, the Entomology representative to the NMNH Collections Committee, floor representative on the Entomology Space Committee, and am the Entomology representative on the NMNH Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Committee. I serve as the primary Point-of-Contact between Entomology and OFMR (facilities issues), OBM (custodial/labor force issues), OPS (security issues), OSHEM (safety issues), & OCIO (IT issues). I also serve as the System Administrator for Transactions Management in EMu for Entomology and am responsible for all interactions with the Office of the Registrar and external regulatory agencies. I serve as the primary Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR), overseeing the work on all curatorial contracts conducted in Entomology.

Public Engagement/Outreach

I serve as the primary public spokesperson for the National Insect Collection for the Deptartment of Entomology and the primary point-of-contact with NMNH Public Affairs and Communications staff to arrange access to the collections and staff as well as answering general and technical questions about Entomology and natural history collections. I am the primary consultant with NMNH Conservation and NMNH Exhibits regarding entomological subject matter. I frequently consult with Education & Outreach on objects in Q?rius Center and the Insect Zoo. I conduct most of the Behind-the-Scenes tours of the Entomology collections at NMNH, ranging in audiences from high level dignitaries to small children’s groups (30+ tours for 300+ visitors annually). I also provide ID services for NMNH staff and the general public (900+ since 2011) and consult semi-regularly for staff in other SI units and non-SI museum units in the DC area (International Spy Museum, National Gallery of Art) regarding pest control and Integrated Pest Management measures.

Systematics Research

My research interests focus on the taxonomy and systematics of fungus feeding beetles. I reconstruct phylogenetic relationships of Endomychidae using cladistics, likelihood and Bayesian techniques incorporating both morphological and molecular evidence, and use the resulting evolutionary hypotheses to explore patterns of change in physical, behavioral, and ecological characteristics. I am also proficient in descriptive alpha-level taxonomy and higher level classification, natural history and behavioral traits (especially among Neotropical members), and comparative morphology of extant adults, immature stages, and fossils.

Publications
Journal Article

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Book Review
  • Shockley, Floyd W. 2011. [Book review] "The Weevils of South Carolina (Coleoptera: Nemonychidae, Attelabidae, Brentidae, Ithyceridae, and Curculionidae). Biota of South Carolina. Volume 6." Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 104, (5), 1027–1028. https://doi.org/10.1603/008.104.0521.
Book Chapter
  • Cline, A. R. and Shockley, Floyd W. 2010. "Biphyllidae LeConte, 1861." In Handbuch der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology. Band/Volume IV. Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband/Part 38. Coleoptera, Beetles. Volume 2. Morphology and Systematics (Polyphaga partim).. Leschen, R. A. B., Beutel, R. G., and Lawrence, J. F., editors. 306–311. Berlin: W. DeGruyter.
  • Shockley, Floyd W. 2009. "Endomychidae." In The Coleoptera of the Seychelles Islands. Gerlach, Justin, editor. 109–114. Sofia-Moscow: Pensoft Publishers.