Dr. Christopher K. Starr

Senior Lecturer in Entomology

Education:

• BA (Biology), Carleton University, Canada, 1973

• MA (Entomology), University of Kansas, USA, 1976

• PhD (Entomology), University of Georgia, USA, 1981

  • Dissertation: Defensive Tactics of Social Wasps

Post-doctoral Experience:

• National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan, 1990-1991, Visiting Specialist

• University of Georgia, USA, 1988-1990, Postdoctoral Associate in Horticulture

• Smithsonian Institution, USA, 1987-88, Postdoctoral Fellow in Entomology

• De La Salle University, Philippines, 1983-87, Professorial Lecturer and Associate Professor of Biology

• Visayas State College of Agriculture, Philippines, 1981-83, Associate Professor of Entomology

Areas of Expertise/Research Interests:

• Nesting biology and biogeography of social insects

• Systematics of social and solitary wasps

• History of ethology

Courses Offered:

• Animal Diversity

• Evolution & Biosystematics

• Entomology

Current Research:

• Nesting biology of a new species of termite from the Bocas Islands (with Shane T. Ballah)

• Biogeography and faunistics of social wasps of the West Indies

• Comparative biodiversity of Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba (with Howard P. Nelson)

• Ecological relations of the spider Argiope argentata and the plant Cnidoscolus urens (with Jacques Daudin)

• Pesticide resistance of social vs solitary insects

• History of insect sociobiology (PhD thesis, Univ. of Utrecht)

Selected Bibliography:

• 1979.  Starr, C.K.  Origin and evolution of insect sociality: A  review of modern theory.  Pp. 35-79 in: H.R. Hermann (ed.), Social Insects. Vol. 1.  New York: Academic.

• 1984.  Starr, C.K.  Sperm competition, kinship and sociality in the aculeate Hymenoptera.  Pp. 427-464 in: R.L. Smith (ed.), Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating Systems.  New York: Academic.

• 1985.  Starr, C.K.  Enabling mechanisms in the origin of sociality in the Hymenoptera: The sting's the thing.  Annals of the Entomological Society of America 78:836-840.

• 1986.  Starr, C.K.  Jean-Henri Fabre en face de la biosystématique.  Pp. 75-113 in: P. Rassat, Y. Delange & O. Collamand (eds.), Actes du Congrès Jean-Henri Fabre, Aniversaire du Jubilé (1910-1985).  Paris: Le Léopard d'Or.

• 1988.  Starr, C.K.  Sexual behavior in Dictyna volucripes (Araneae: Dictynidae).  Journal of Arachnology 16:321-330.

• 1990.  Starr, C.K. & M.E. Bozzoli de Wille.  Social wasps among the Bribri of Costa Rica.  Pp. 187-194 in: W.L. Overal (ed.), Ethnobiology: Implications and Applications. Part. B. Ethnozoology.  Belém: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi.

• 1990.  Starr, C.K.  Holding the fort: Colony defense in some primitively social wasps.  Pp. 421-463 in: D.L. Evans & J.O. Schmidt (eds.), Insect defenses: Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators.  Stony Brook: SUNY Press.

• 1991.  Starr, C.K., R.F. Severson & S.J. Kays.  Volatile chemicals from sweet potato and other Ipomoea: Effects on the behavior of Cylas formicarius.  Pp. 235-246 in: R.K. Jansson & K.V. Raman (eds.), Sweet Potato Pest Management: A Global Perspective.  Boulder: Westview.

• 1992.  Starr, C.K.  The social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of Taiwan.  Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural Science (Taichung) (3):93-138.

• 1993.  Starr, C.K.  Yami ethnoentomology.  Field Materials of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica (Taipei) (8):117-134.

• 1996.  Macalintal, E.A. & C.K. Starr.  Comparative morphology of the stinger in the social wasp genus Ropalidia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).  Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington. (17):108-15.

• 1997.  Starr, C.K., D.D. Wilson, R.F. Severson & S.J. Kays.  Sexual dimorphism in the sweet-potato weevil Cylas formicarius (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea).  Canadian Entomologist 129:61-69.

• 1999. Mohammed, F. & C.K. Starr. Comparative foraging of the sympatric stingless bees Trigona nigra and Partamona nigrior (Apidae: Meliponini). Proceedings of the Section Experimental and Applied Entomology of the Netherlands Entomological Society 10:195-202.

• 1999. Starr, C.K. Systematics and comparative biology of the honeybees. Proceedings of the First Caribbean Congress of Beekeeping, Tobago 1998 pp. 72-92.

• 2000.  Carpenter, J.M. & C.K. Starr.  A new genus of hover wasps from Southeast Asia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Stenogastrinae).  American Museum Novitates (3291): 1-12.

• 2002.  Starr, C.K., S. Boodram, D.N. Stephens, K.S. Andrews, S.T. Ballah, M.N. Gowrie, P.M. Jagoo, N.M. St-Aimée & C.A. Western.  Does brightness meaning warning colouration in butterfly wings?  Living World (Port of Spain) 2002:49-50.

• 2003.  Starr, C.K. & A.W. Hook.  The aculeate Hymenoptera of Trinidad, West Indies.  Occasional Papers of the Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies (12):1-31.  

• 2003. Scheffrahn, R.H., J. Krecek, B. Maharajh, J.A. Chase, J.R. Mangold & C.K. Starr.  Termite fauna (Isoptera) of Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies .  Occasional Papers of the Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies (12):33-38. view paper

• 2007. Starr, C.K. Compass points in English surnames.  Names 55:343-348. data file (pdf)