Palestrante
Ron Ochoa
Dr. Ochoa has published as author or co-author more than 270 articles, two web-sites, three catalogs, four books and 10 book chapters. The research included investigations on insects and mites of economic importance. The systematic studies are associated with the mite order Acariformes, sub orders Prostigmata and Astigmata. He has worked and studied in the fields of acarology and entomology for the last 43 years, including 16 years of teaching and fieldwork responsibilities and 23 years with the United States Department of Agriculture. Most of his research includes systematic and ecological studies on plant feeding mites of the superfamilies Eriophyoidea, Tarsonemoidea, Tetranychoidea, and the family Acaridae. A total of 121 new species and 12 new genera of mites in eight different families associated with agricultural crops, ornamental plants, fruits, grasses, forestry, weeds, stored grain, insects (bees) and Med/Vet importance have been described or co-described by Dr. Ochoa. His teaching and fieldwork experience has included Acarology, General Entomology, Economic Entomology, Medical Entomology, Aquatic Entomology, Vertebrates and Invertebrates, and Principles of Biology. He has been working on plant feeding mite identifications, cladistics, ecology and plant interactions, as well as curation of the U.S. National Mite Collection, Smithsonian Institute at Beltsville, Maryland and the use of new CRYO-SEM techniques for the study and understanding of mite systematics and morphology.
