I have been the Insect Division Collection Manager at the UMMZ since 1981. I'm responsible for collection maintenance, curation, specimen preparation, loans, exchanges and Insect Division data resources. I have over 30 years of experience as an entomologist, and have worked on the biology of various sand wasps, forest entomology, and more recently, dragonflies. My expertise has been in the area of insect natural history, and the biology and distribution of Hymenoptera and Odonata in Michigan.

I feel quite lucky to have known many interesting entomologists that are now no longer with us. Because of those ties with the past, the history of the UMMZ and entomology in Michigan has become something that I have been filing away, and my paper on Odonatology in Michigan (2009) is the first of what I hope will be a series of papers on such topics.

I also coordinate the Michigan Odonata Survey. If you are interested in dragonflies, you'll like the web pages that I have put together. I occasionally edit the MOS newsletter Williamsonia, which has information about dragonflies in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. This amazing group of insects has fascinated me for many years, and I soon hope to bear down on completing the definitive atlas of Michigan Odonata.

My Entomologically-related Blogs:

• Michigan Odonotes

• Six-legged Wonders

When I'm not being an entomologist, I am a photographer, and I may even make a living at it someday. I have had several recent gallery exhibitions of some of my work, and you can see more of my photography on Flickr. My photography blog might interest you too. I am also a board member of the Michigan Photographic Historical Society.

Complete List of Publications

Address

Room 2053 Insect Division
Museum of Zoology
1109 Geddes Avenue
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079

phone: 734-647-2199
fax: 734-763-4080

Recent Publications

2003. The Odonata of the Huron Mountains, Marquette County, Michigan. Bulletin of American Odonatology 7(1):1-22 (O'Brien, M.F., E. Bright and M.A. Kielb).
2003. An annotated list of the name-bearing types of species-group names in Odonata preserved in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Occasional Papers Mus. of Zool. Univ. Mich. 736:73 pp. (R.W. Garrison, N. von Ellenrieder, M.F. O'Brien).
2006. Bug Blogs. Newsl. Michigan Entomol. Soc. 51(3&4):2,8.
2006. Michigan Odonata Checklist. Newsl. Michigan Entomol. Soc. 51(3&4):6-7.
2007. Isodontia elegans now in Michigan (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae: Sphecinae). Great Lakes Entomol. 39 (1&2):94-96. (M.F. O'Brien and J. A. Craves).
2008. Megachile sculpturalis Smith - A new bee for Michigan (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Newsletter Mich. Entomol. Soc. 53 (1&2):4. (M.F. O'Brien & J.A. Craves)
2008. Notes on Dianthidium simile (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Michigan. Great Lakes Entomol. 40 (1&2): 23-28.
2008. A significant new Hine's Emerald record for Michigan. Argia 20(3):28. (R. Rutherford & M. O'Brien).
2009. Odonatological History in Michigan - 1875-1996. Great Lakes Entomol. 41:1-11.