Mercedes D. Delfinado (born 16 January 1933) is a Filipino acarologist. She is a specialist in bee mites, and published widely on insects of south-east Asia. For over twenty years, she was a Chief Editor for the

International Journal of Acarology The ''International Journal of Acarology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of agricultural, aquatic, general, medical, and veterinary acarology. Topics covered include mite and tick behavior, biochemistry, biology, biological pest control, e ...

. Multiple species were named in her honour. In 1962, Delfinado was a recipient of a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

Biography

Delfinado was born in

Cabuyao Cabuyao (), officially the City of Cabuyao (), is a component city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 355,330 people. It used to be known as the "richest municipality in the Philipp ...

, Laguna on 16 January 1933. She graduated with a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1960. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962 for her work on organisimic biology and ecology. In 1966, she graduated from the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System is a public college and university system in Hawaii. The system confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven community colleges, an employment training center, ...

with a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

acarology Acarology (from Ancient Greek /, , a type of mite; and , -logy, ) is the study of mites and ticks, the animals in the order (biology), order Mite, Acarina. It is a subfield of arachnology, a subdiscipline of the field of zoology. A zoologist spec ...

. While there, she co-prepared a catalogue of Philippine

diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

. She married Edward W. Baker, also an acarologist, with whom she worked at the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

's (USDA) Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Beltsville, building the collection there, and in 1999 expanding the premises to accommodate more researchers. While at the USDA, Delfinado specialised in the study of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s at the Beneficial Insects Laboratory. This included the identification of the honey bee mite '' Acarapsis woodi'' and she was the first to report the presence of ''

Melittiphis alvearius ''Melittiphis'' is a genus of mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic ...

'' in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

''.'' Heavily involved with the

, she was a Chief Editor for over twenty years until her retirement in 1999. She and her husband retired to the Philippines, and she established a research fellowship on mite taxonomy in his honour.

Eponymous species

* Ker mercedesae * '' Culex (Lophoceraomyia) uniformis ssp. mercedesae'' * ''

Culicoides delfinadoae ''Culicoides'' is a genus of biting midges in the family Ceratopogonidae. There are over 1000 species in the genus,Connelly, C. RBiting midges: ''Culicoides'' spp.Featured Creatures, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida IFA ...

'' * '' Tipula (Sinotipula) delfinadoae'' * '' Tarsonemus mercedesae''

Selected publications

* Smiley, Robert L., W. Baker Edward, and Mercedes Delfinado Baker. "New species of Hypoaspis (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) from the nest of a stingless bee in Malaysia (Hymenoptera: Meliponinae, Apidae)." ''Anales del Instituto de Biología serie Zoología'' 67.002 (1996). * Delfinado-Baker, Mercedes, and Christine YS Peng. "Varroa jacobsoni and Tropilaelaps clareae: A perspective of life history and why Asian bee-mites preferred European honey bees." ''American bee journal (USA)'' (1995). * Delfinado, Mercedes D., and Edward W. Baker. "Varroidae, a new family of mites on honey bees (Mesostigmata: Acarina)." ''Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences'' (1974): 4–10. * Delfinado, Mercedes O. "New species of shore flies from Hong Kong and Taiwan (Diptera: Canaceidae)." ''Oriental Insects'' 5.1 (1971): 117–123. * Mercedes D. Delfinado, Notes on Philippine Black Flies (Diptera : Simuliidae), ''Journal of Medical Entomology'', Volume 6, Issue 2, 1 May 1969, Pages 199–207 * Delfinado, Mercedes D. "Mites of the honeybee in South-East Asia." ''Journal of Apicultural Research'' 2.2 (1963): 113–114.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delfinado, Mercedes 1933 births Living people Filipino women scientists Cornell University alumni University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Acarologists Women entomologists