Kuzmina S.A.1, Elias S.A.2 2019. Andrei V. Sher and his role in Quaternary invertebrate study // Invertebrate Zoology. Vol.16. No.2: 79–88 [in English].
1 Laboratory of Arthropods, Borissiak Palaeontological Institute, Profsoyuznaya Str. 123, Moscow, 117997, Russia. E-mail: svkuz@yandex.ru
2 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder 20 UCB Boulder, CO 80309-0020 USA. E-mail: scottelias59@gmail.com
doi: 10.15298/invertzool.16.2.01
ABSTRACT: Andrei V. Sher (1939–2008) is known as a Quaternary palaeontologist, specializing in large mammals, but his contributions to the study of fossil invertebrates (mainly insects) were also great. He was a leader of a small informal scientific group and a member of large network of researchers who studied Beringia with a focus on stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Different methods, including fossil invertebrate study, were used for these purposes. Sher considered insects to be the key group to develop our understudying of the non-analogue extinct steppe-tundra community. He was the initiator and designer of a digital database for Siberian Quaternary insects (QUINSIB). He applied the MCR method for climate reconstruction in Siberia and used insects for detailed stratigraphic correlations. A.V. Sher worked in both parts of Beringia: northern-east Siberia and Chukotka (Western Beringia) and Alaska and the Yukon (Eastern Beringia); he had the rare gift of being able to observe the whole picture. This issue of “Invertebrate Zoology” is dedicated to A. Sher’s 80th anniversary.
KEY WORDS: Quaternary, invertebrates, insects, Beringia.