New species named after entomologist Brian Sullivan

Entomologist Brian Sullivan discovered a new species 25 years ago. USDA Forest Service photo.

NORTH CAROLINA—Twenty-five years ago, Brian Sullivan, a USDA Forest Service research entomologist, saw a fungus growing in bark alongside the small southern pine engraver (Ips avulsus). The beetle is native to the U.S. and commonly kills stressed pine trees.

Sullivan examined the fungus and identified its genus but could not identify the species—the fungus was new to science and had never been described. Sullivan provided mycologist Thomas Harrington and his colleagues at Iowa State University with specimens of the fungus growing within beetle-infested bark.

Harrington and his colleagues recently described this fungal species that lives symbiotically with the small southern pine engraver and named it after Sullivan: Entomocorticium sullivanii. The fungus is symbiotic with the beetle and apparently provides nutrition.

Sullivan joins Ansel Adams, David Attenborough, Leonard Cohen, E.O. Wilson and many other people who have a species namesake. Research etiquette forbids naming a species after oneself—the distinction must be bestowed by others.

In addition to first documenting the new fungus and providing specimens to Harrington, Sullivan has greatly expanded our knowledge of bark beetles—here in the U.S. and internationally. Sullivan has made lasting contributions to the fields of bark beetle biology, chemical ecology and systematics.

Learn more about fungi associated with beetles in the article from journal Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. For more information, email Brian Sullivan at brian.sullivan2@usda.gov.

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