Talbot, Mary (1903-1990)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
U. S. zoologist and entomologist. Born 30 November 1903 in Columbus, Ohio, to Paulena (Smitz) and Paul Threser Talbot. Educated Denison University (B.S., 1925), Ohio State University (M.A., 1927); University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1934). Professional experience: University of Omaha, instructor (1927-1928); Stephens College, Columbia, Mo., instructor (1928-1930); Mundelein College, Chicago (1935-1936); Lindenwood College, St. Charles Mo., Department of Biology, assistant professor through professor (1936-after 1968), departmental chair, Honors and memberships; L'Union Internationale pour l'Etude des Insectes Sociaux, Kansas Entomological Society, American Institute for Biological Research. Talbot published articles on social insects, especially ants, their daily behavior, their nuptial flights, population fluctuations, and particularly, the biology of slave-making ants. A database for the Talbot collections is housed at NCSU. For each specimen, we have entered all of the data on each label (e.g., locality and determination) in each vial. We have data from 3,965 individual vials in the database. Jessie Allen and Mike Weiser are developing scripts which will pull the data from the labels and generate an atomized database by collection locality, date, species determination, etc. While preliminary, the earliest preserved collections appear to be from 1924 and the latest from 1978 (with a peak of collections in 1953). The majority of the collections come from Michigan, and the single most collected site is the E.S. George Reserve, a field station run by the University of Michigan near Pinckney, MI. Lindenwood University (then,Lindenwood College), St. Charles, Missouri.
Mary Talbot died April 16, 1990. She taught at Lindenwood between 1936 and 1968.
For an appreciation of her life by Paul Kannowski A Myrmecologist's Life
TAXONOMIC PUBLICATIONS
- Talbot, M. 1934. Distribution of ant species in the Chicago region with reference to ecological factors and physiological toleration. Ecology 15:416-439.
- Talbot, M. 1943a. Population studies of the ant, Prenolepis imparis. Ecology 24(1): 31-44.
- Talbot, M. 1943b. Response of the ant Prenolepis imparis Say to temperature and humidity changes. Ecology 24(3):345-352.
- Talbot, M. 1945. A comparison of flights of 4 species of ants. American Midland Naturalist 34(2):504-510.
- Talbot, M. 1946. Daily fluctuations in aboveground activity of three species of ants. Ecology 27(1): 65-70.
- Talbot, M. 1948. A comparison of two ants of the genus Formica. Ecology 29:316-325.
- Talbot, M. 1951. Populations and hibernating conditions of the ant Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma) rudis Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 44:302-307.
- Talbot, M. 1953. Ants of an old-field community on the Edwin S. George Reserve, Livingston County, Michigan. Contributions from the Laboratory of Vertebrate Biology of the University of Michigan 63:1-13.
- Talbot, M. 1957a. Population studies of the slave-making ant Leptothorax duloticus and its slave, Leptothorax curvispinosus. Ecology 38(3):449-456.
- Talbot, M. 1957b. Populations of ants in a Missouri woodland. Insectes Sociaux 4:375-384.
- Talbot, M. 1961. Mounds of the ant Formica ulkei at Edwin S. George Reserve, Livingston County, Michigan. Ecology 42(1):202-205.
- Talbot, M. 1963. Local distribution and flight activities of four species of ants of the genus Acanthomyops Mayr. Ecology 44:549-557.
- Talbot, M. 1965. Populations of ants in a low field. Insectes Sociaux 12:19-48.
- Talbot, M. 1966. Flights of the ant Aphaenogaster treatae. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 39:67-77.
- Talbot, M. 1972. Flights and swarms of the ant Formica obscuripes Forel. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 45:254-258.
- Talbot, M. 1973. Five species of the ant genus Acanthomyops (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) at the Edwin S. George Reserve in southern Michigan. Great Lakes Entomologist 6:19-22.
- Talbot, M. 2013. The Natural History of the Ants of Michigan's E.S. George Reserve: A 26 Year Study. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Misc. pub. no. 202 12/1/2013.
REFERENCE
- Wilson, E.O. 1990. Myrmecological Newsletter 5:3-4.