Alayo, Don Dalmau Pastor (1915-2001)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Pastor Alayo Dalmau (1915-2001). Rafael Alayo Soto (Departamento de Zoologia; Instituto de Ecologia y Sistematica, ACC; Carretera de Vaona KM 3 1/2; Capdevila, Boyeros, Apartado Postal 8010; 10800 Ciudad de la Habana; CUBA) is the son of Dr. Pastor Alayo. He is also an entomologist.

A Cuban entomologist who published a catalogue of the hymenoptera of Cuba. When Pastor Alayo finished his Catalog of Cuban Hymenoptera in 1970 it encompassed 398 genera and 914 species of Hymenoptera.

Pastor Alayo promoted the systematic knowledge of Cuban bees. In the beginning (1931-1951) he was associated with S. C. Bruner, head of the Agronomic Experimental Station of Cuba. Later, he worked at the Institute of Biology of the Academy of Sciences in Havana. He collected bees and formed a very important collection, mainly from the eastern areas of the island. He sent much material to the most active specialists of his time. Since he feared to create synonyms and because he could not obtain permission to travel outside of Cuba, the impossibility of studying the holotypes of Cuban species deposited in North American museums prevented him from describing new species. He wrote a series of introductory articles about the orders of Cuban insects that stimulated and facilitated their study. Alayo (1973) classified the Hymenoptera of Cuba, in the most complete compilatory work to date. He reviewed the Apoidea and presented keys to separate the families, subfamilies, tribes and genera of bees, besides listing the known species (Alayo 1976).

ANT TAXONOMY
Alayo described a single species of Camponotus from Cuba.

PUBLICATIONS

 * Alayo, D. P. 1974. Introduccion al estudio de los Himenopteros de Cuba. Superfamilia Formicoidea. Academia de Ciencias de Cuba. Instituto de Zoologia. Serie Biologica no.53: 58 pp. La Habana.


 * Alayo, D. P.; Zayas Montero, L. 1977. Estudios sobre los Himenópteros de Cuba. VII. Dos nuevas especies para la fauna mirmecológica Cubana. Poeyana Inst. Zool. Acad. Cienc. Cuba 174: 1-5

REFERENCE

 * Anon. 2001. Argia 13(4): 19.