Gordon Mainland

Gordon Beach Mainland (1913—1962) was an American entomologist who specialized in Drosophila, a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit.

Education and career

After receiving his master's degree from the University of Hawaii, Gordon Mainland worked at the University of Texas in a group led by John Thomas Patterson. During this period Mainland and others within the group collected many new species within the genus Drosophila from the United States and large parts of Mexico.

In 1946, Mainland moved back to Hawaii after accepting a position in the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawaii. At that time, a rich native drosophiloid fauna still existed in the area of Tantalus and Manoa Falls on Oahu, and he was able to collect numerous species. He tried to rear the various species under laboratory conditions, however, like everyone else who had previously attempted to do so, he was also unsuccessful. Disillusioned with the Hawaiian Drosophila and with his duties as an investigator on the Oriental fruit fly project, Mainlaid resigned from his service in 1949 and left Hawaii.

Before leaving, Mainland introduced Dilbert Elmo Hardy, another American entomologist, to Hawaii Drosophila. Hardy would later become the foremost expert on the subject and described a very large number of new species within the genus Dro Sphila in Hawaii.

In 1950-51, Mainland received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas. In 1957,

he became the Associate Professor of Biology at Jacksonville State College (now Jacksonville State University) in Jacksonville, Alabama.

Death

Mainland passed away in 1962 at age 49.