Jan van Tol

"It will not be a surprise to find an aquatic entomologist in a country (the Netherlands) that is famous for its wetlands and canals. My present research interest is the taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the Odonata of Southeast Asia. The collection of the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis (Leiden) is famous for its rich collections of dragonflies of this region, including the collections of Maurits A. Lieftinck, Roland A. Müller and Matti Hämäläinen. My own fieldwork has supplemented this collection with specimens from various islands of Indonesia and from Vietnam.

The museum in Leiden shares a long history with the ICZN. Professor Boschma and Professor Holthuis were both active commissioners for a period of tens of years. During the preparation of the Global Species Database of Odonata, my interest in nomenclature got more focus. This database is now included in the Catalogue of Life. I am a strong advocate of ZooBank, ultimately as a compulsory system for registration of names, but with an initial phase based on voluntary submissions." 

Dr Jan van Tol has been working at the Leiden museum since 1977, first as co-ordinator of invertebrate mapping schemes in the Netherlands, then as curator of the department of Hemiptera, Orthoptera and Odonata from 1986 and as Head of the department of entomology from 1999; he is currently Director of Research at the Museum. He was president of the Netherlands Entomological Society for ten years (1999-2008).

Contact details
National Museum of Natural History Naturalis
Department of Entomology
P.O. Box 9517
2300 RA  Leiden
The Netherlands

Telephone +31 71 568 7606
Email: tol (at) naturalis (dot) nl
Personal webpage (includes bibliography): www (dot) naturalis (dot) nl (slash) tol

Database of Odonata: www.odonata.info