Andrew Polaszek

Andrew Polaszek is a researcher (currently Interim Keeper) in entomology at the Natural History Museum, London. He specializes in parasitoid wasps, especially chalcidoids, but also has an active interest in bees, ants, and other Hymenoptera. He has participated in several classical biological control programs with parasitoid wasps, including the successful introduction of two species into Trinidad against the citrus blackfly, a major pest.

Dr. Polaszek completed his PhD at Imperial College, London, before joining the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology in 1985. From 1990–1994 he was Principal Investigator in the Department of Entomology at Wageningen Agricultural University (The Netherlands) studying cereal pests and their natural enemies in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2004 he was appointed Executive Secretary of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). At ICZN he was involved in the establishment of the ZooBank register of animal names and nomenclatural acts, and as a consequence, maintains a strong interest in the development of the Code, especially in relation to electronic publication of systematic work, including Web-based taxonomy. He has authored more than 100 scientific publications, edited the books “Cereal Stem Borers in Africa” (CABI Bioscience,1998) & Systema Naturae 250 (CRC Press, 2010) and has co-edited Journal of Natural History since 1995.