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We report that the Australian
heteropterist Gordon Gross has sadly passed away. Gordon was one of
the most eminent heteropterists ever to work on Australian true bugs.
He spent most of his working life as an entomologist at the South Australian
Museum in Adelaide. He produced substantial works on many true bug
families, including the Dipsocoridae, Anthocoridae, Miridae, Berytidae,
Rhopalidae, Lygaeidae, Rhyparochromidae, Scutelleridae, Aphylidae,
Tessaratomidae and Pentatomidae. He will be best remembered for his
two volume set on the Pentatomoidea of South Australia, where he produced a
work that was ground breaking in its use of genitalia and positing a higher
classification to the shield bugs. Pentatomid workers the world over
use these works extensively. His works were always beautifully
illustrated. He also produced substantive monographs on pentatomid
taxa, including those on Poecilometis, and the Cephaloplatus
and Rhynchocoris genus-groups. Gordon also collaborated closely
with Jose Carvalho, producing some of the first works on Australian mirids.
More recently he co-wrote the Zoological Catalogue of Australia volumes on
the Heteroptera. Gordon
worked hard and succeeded in unraveling many complexities of Australian land
bugs. He was an avid collector and he had a mind like a steel trap.
He was a linguist and liked nothing better than banter with a colleague
about the etymology of a name. He was a man with a strong presence and
was always generous. He helped many colleagues in furthering their
careers and research objectives. He loved the South Australian Museum
and gave it his all. His works will endure long into the future and he
will be remembered by heteropterists the world over.
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