William Albert Shear (born 1942) is Trinkle Professor Emeritus at

Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth ...

, Virginia. He is a spider and myriapod expert who has published more than 200 scientific articles primarily on

harvestman The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an order of arachnids, colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs (see below). , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the total n ...

and

millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

taxonomy. He was born in

Coudersport, Pennsylvania Coudersport is a borough in and the county seat of Potter County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately east by southeast of Erie on the Allegheny River. The population was 2,371 at the 2020 census. History The Coudersport and Port Alleg ...

, completed his undergraduate work at

College of Wooster {{Infobox university , image = College of Wooster seal.png , image_upright = .6 , name = The College of Wooster , former_names = University of Wooster (1866–1915) , motto ...

, masters at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

, and PhD at the

Museum of Comparative Zoology The Museum of Comparative Zoology (formally the Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology and often abbreviated to MCZ) is a zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of three natural-history r ...

at Harvard University under the supervision of

Herbert Walter Levi Herbert Walter Levi (January 3, 1921 – November 3, 2014) was professor emeritus of zoology and curator of arachnology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. He was born in Germany, and was educated there and at Leighton Park ...

. While at Harvard, Shear completed a revision of the millipede family Cleidogonidae and reclassification of the order

Chordeumatida Chordeumatida (from the Greek word for "sausage") is a large order of millipedes containing more than 1,400 species. Also known as sausage millipedes, they are found nearly worldwide. Chordeumatida is the largest order in the superorder Nemato ...

. He is an expert in Paleozoic arthropods, and has published several papers on fossil millipedes, centipedes, and spiders. A number of species are named after him, including ''Hypochilus sheari'' Platnick, 1987 and ''Brachoria sheari'' Marek, 2010. Shear is a lifetime appointee as Senior Scientific Associate at the

Virginia Museum of Natural History The Virginia Museum of Natural History is the state's natural history museum located in Martinsville, Virginia founded in 1984. The museum has several different award-winning publications, is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, and has ...

and is a research associate at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

and Museum of Comparative Zoology. He lives in

Farmville, Virginia Farmville is a town in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Prince Edward and Cumberland County, Virginia, Cumberland counties in the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Prince Edward County, Virginia, Prince Edward County. ...

, and is an avid iris gardener and Godan (fifth degree black belt) in

Shōrin-ryū Shōrinkan is a branch of the Kobayashi Shōrin-ryū style of Okinawan karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, ...

traditional Okinawan karate. His zoological author abbreviation is Shear.

Publications

References

External links

http://www.hsc.edu/Academics/Academic-Majors/Biology/Professors/William-Shear.html

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150623-millipedes-use-chemical-weapons

Wikidata query
of taxa he named. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shear, William Hampden–Sydney College faculty People from Potter County, Pennsylvania College of Wooster alumni University of New Mexico alumni Harvard University alumni 1942 births Living people Arachnologists Myriapodologists American arachnologists Shōrin-ryū practitioners

Publications

See also

References

External links