John F. Lawrence is one of the world’s preeminent coleopterists. He worked at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology before emigrating to Australia, where he served as a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian National Insect Collection (CSIRO) until 1999. He has published more than 200 research articles and book chapters and was co-editor of a recent volume of Handbook of Zoology, in which he authored or co-authored more than 50 chapters. John is now retired but continues to conduct research on the phylogeny and classification of beetles.

Adam Slipinski completed his PhD and DSc in Poland where he worked for 20 years at the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; he also held a joint appointment as Professor of Biology at the University of Zielona Gora. He is currently working as a Senior Principal Research Scientist and curator at the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO. He is the author of nearly 200 research publications, the editor of a two-volume book on the phylogeny and classification of beetles, and an author of books on Australian ladybird and longhorn beetles. Adam’s research concentrates on the phylogeny and higher classification of beetles.