David Grimaldi is the curator-in-charge of Diptera, Lepidoptera, Isoptera, fossil insects, and minor holometabolous orders (Siphonaptera, Mecoptera, Neuropterida, etc.). He studied biology and fine arts at the University of Connecticut for his B.Sc., evolutionary biology for his M.Sc. at SUNY Binghamton, and entomology for his Ph.D. at Cornell University. He started at the AMNH in 1986 as an Assistant Curator, becoming Associate Curator in 1991, and Curator in 1996. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at City College of New York, in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University, and in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. Ph.D. students who wish to be involved in his research programs can enroll in either of these schools or in the Gilder Graduate School at the AMNH.

 

Dr. Grimaldi’s research is interdisciplinary, broadly encompassing various themes in the evolution of hexapods. The basis of his research is the systematics of extant and fossil insects, which is applied to questions of phylogeny, extinction, biogeography, general ecology, and earth history. He is particularly interested in fossilization within amber, from preservation to general geology and paleoecology. Excavations have been conducted in the Dominican Republic, India, New Jersey, northern Alaska, and Wyoming. As a result of fieldwork, purchase of collections, and donations, Grimaldi has assembled the most scientifically significant collection of amber in the world (see Amber Collection).   Other paleontological activities include excavations and systematics of insects from Late Triassic (ca. 230 Ma) shales of southern Virginia, which is one of the world’s most important deposits from this time period.

 

Taxonomic focus is on the Diptera, although Grimaldi has published on 13 orders of hexapods. Works have been published, for example, on the most diverse and best preserved fauna of early flies (from the Viriginia Triassic), Cyclorrhapha in Cretaceous amber, and monographs on living species of Drosophilidae. He has collected insects throughout Central and South America, the Caribbean, East Africa, southern Asia, and Pacific islands. A comprehensive knowledge of the living insect fauna is essential for interpreting past faunas.

 

Requests to visit or borrow specimens for scientific research can be emailed to Dr. Grimaldi.