Michael S. Engel

Michael S. Engel, FLS, FRES (born September 24, 1971) is an American paleontologist and entomologist, notable for contributions to insect evolutionary biology and classification.In connection with his studies he has undertaken field expeditions in Central Asia, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, eastern Africa, the high Arctic, and South and North America, and has published more than 760 papers in scientific journals and over 800 new living and fossil species.Some of Engel's research images were included in exhibitions on the aesthetic value of scientific imagery. Engel is the author of Innumerable Insects (Sterling, 2018) and co-author of Evolution of the Insects (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Engel received a B.Sc. in physiology and cell biology and a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Kansas in 1993, and a Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University in 1998.He was employed as a research scientist at the American Museum of Natural History from 1998–2000, and then returned to the University of Kansas as assistant professor in the Department of Entomology, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and assistant curator in the Natural History Museum’s Division of Entomology.He was promoted to full professor and senior curator in 2008, and University Distinguished Professor in 2018.In 2006–2007 Engel resumed regular activity in the American Museum of Natural History while a Guggenheim Fellow, completing work on the geological history of termites and their influence on carbon recycling in paleoenvironments.This period also permitted significant work on the comprehensive work, Treatise on the Termites of the World.In 2008 he received the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society and subsequently the Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society of London (2009) for his contributions to the fields of systematic entomology and paleontology.In Spring 2014 he was awarded the Scholarly Achievement Award of the University of Kansas for his contributions to the evolutionary and developmental origins of insect flight; and in 2015 the International Cooperation Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2017, Engel was elected as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America and received the society's Thomas Say Award. In Spring 2019, Innumerable Insects won the Nautilus Book Award in two categories.

Engel married Kellie K. Magill on April 25, 2009, in a ceremony performed by Engel's father.

The following species or genera have been proposed in honor of Dr. Engel:

1. Lasioglossum (Dialictus) engeli Genaro, 2001 (a halictine bee from Cuba)
2. Braunsapis engeli Jobiraj, 2004 (a small allodapine bee from southern India)
3. † Cretostylops engeli Grimaldi & Kathirithamby, 2005 (the oldest fossil Strepsiptera, from Myanmar)
4. † Sigmophlebia engeli Béthoux & Beckemeyer, 2007 (a protorthopteran from the Early Permian of Oklahoma)
5. Triepeolus engeli Rightmyer, 2008 (an epeoline bee from Texas)
6. † Archaeoellipes engeli Heads, 2010 (a pygmy mole cricket from the Early Miocene of the Dominican Republic)
7. Anotylus engeli Makranczy, 2011 (an oxyteline rove beetle from Bolivia)
8. † Engellestes Nel & al., 2012 (a genus of damselfly-like odonates from the Permian of Russia)
9. Melitta engeli Michez, 2012 (a melittine bee from Kyrgyzstan)
10. † Xenosycorax engeli Azar & Salamé, 2015 (a psychodid fly in Cretaceous amber from New Jersey)
11. † Kronocharon engeli Wunderlich, 2015 (a whipspider in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar)
12. † Dolichoraphidia engeli Liu & al., 2016 (a snakefly in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar)
13. Eufriesea engeli Gonzalez & Griswold, 2017 (an orchid bee from Mexico)
14. † Elmomantis engeli Prokop et al., 2017 (a miomopteran from the Permian of Kansas)
15. † Cretogramma engeli Liu et al., 2018 (a kalligrammatid lacewing from the Cretaceous of Myanmar)
16. † Archeofoenus engeli Turrisi & Ellenberger, 2019 (an aulacid wasp from the Cretaceous of Myanmar)
17. † Cretoquadratus engeli Chen, 2019 (a ship-timber beetles from the Cretaceous of Myanmar)
18. † Deltoxyela engeli Wang, Shih, Ren, & Gao, 2020 (a sawfly from the Cretaceous of Myanmar)

• Engel, M.S. (2001). "A monograph of the Baltic amber bees and evolution of the Apoidea (Hymenoptera)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 259: 1–192. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2001)259<0001:amotba>2.0.co;2. hdl:2246/1437.
• Engel, M.S. (2015). "Insect evolution". Current Biology. 26 (19): R868–R872. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.07.059. PMID 26439349.
• Engel, M.S. (2018). Innumerable Insects. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 978-1454923237.
• Engel, M.S. (2002). "The first Mesozoic Zoraptera (Insecta)". American Museum Novitates. 3362: 1–20. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.571.3443. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2002)362<0001:tfmzi>2.0.co;2.
• Engel, M.S. (2004). "New light shed on the oldest insect". Nature. 427 (6975): 627–630. Bibcode:2004Natur.427..627E. doi:10.1038/nature02291. PMID 14961119.
• Engel, M.S., Davis, S.R. & Prokop, J. (2013) Insect wings: The evolutionary developmental origins of Nature’s first flyers. In: Minelli, A., Boxshall, G. & Fusco, G. (eds.), Arthropod Biology and Evolution: Molecules, Development, Morphology: 269–298. Springer Verlag, Berlin.
• Garrouste R., Clément G., Nel P., Engel M.S., Grandcolas P., D'Haese C., Lagebro L., Denayer J., Gueriau P., Lafaite P., Olive S., Prestianni C., Nel A. (2012). "A complete insect from the Late Devonian period". Nature. 488 (7409): 82–85. Bibcode:2012Natur.488...82G. doi:10.1038/nature11281. PMID 22859205.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Grimaldi, D. & Engel, M.S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82149-0.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Gu J., Montealegre-Z F., Robert D., Engel M.S., Qiao G., Ren D. (2012). "Wing stridulation in a Jurassic katydid (Insecta, Orthoptera) produced low-pitched musical calls to attract females". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 109 (10): 3868–3873. doi:10.1073/pnas.1118372109. PMC 3309752. PMID 22315416.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Huang D., Engel M.S., Cai C., Wu H., Nel A. (2012). "Diverse transitional giant fleas from the Mesozoic era of China". Nature. 483 (7388): 201–204. Bibcode:2012Natur.483..201H. doi:10.1038/nature10839. PMID 22388812.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Huang D., Nel A., Cai C., Lin Q., Engel M.S. (2013). "Amphibious flies and paedomorphism in the Jurassic period". Nature. 495 (7439): 94–97. Bibcode:2013Natur.495...94H. doi:10.1038/nature11898. PMID 23426262.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Krishna K. (2013). "Treatise on the Termites of the World". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 377 (7): 1–2470. doi:10.1206/377.1.
• Michez, D., Vanderplanck, M. & Engel, M.S. (2012) Fossil bees and their plant associates. In: Patiny, S. (ed.), Evolution of Plant-Pollinator Relationships: 103–164. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Nel A., Roques P., Nel P., Prokin A.A., Bourgoin T., Prokop J., Szwedo J., Azar D., Desutter-Grandcolas L., Wappler T., Garrouste R., Coty D., Huang D., Engel M.S., Kirejtshuk A.G. (2013). "The earliest known holometabolous insects". Nature. 503 (7475): 257–261. Bibcode:2013Natur.503..257N. doi:10.1038/nature12629. PMID 24132233.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Pérez- , de la Fuente R., Delclòs X., Peñalver E., Speranza M., Wierzchos J., Ascaso C., Engel M.S. (2012). "Early evolution and ecology of camouflage in insects". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 109 (52): 21414–21419. Bibcode:2012PNAS..10921414P. doi:10.1073/pnas.1213775110. PMC 3535654. PMID 23236135.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)