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About James
James Slater was a professor of Biology at the University of Connecticut from 1953 until his retirement in 1988, serving in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. A leading expert in entomology with a focus on heteropteran insects, or true bugs, he was recognized worldwide for his authority on the family Lygaeidae, naming numerous new species and genera across hundreds of publications. Slater earned a BA in entomology from the University of Illinois in 1942, an MS from the same institution in 1947, and a PhD in entomology from Iowa State University in 1950. Before joining UConn, he served as an assistant professor at Iowa State University from 1947 to 1953. During his tenure at UConn, he held key administrative roles, including head of the zoology and entomology departments, head of the section of systematics and ecology in the biological sciences group, and head of the systematic and evolutionary biology section. He also served as editor of Entomologica Americana and contributed to global insect collections from regions including Africa, Australia, Central America, the Caribbean, and Florida, many of which are preserved in UConn's Biodiversity Research Collections.
Slater authored over 250 scientific papers and several influential books, such as A Catalogue of the Lygaeidae of the World (1964), How to Know the True Bugs (Hemiptera-Heteroptera) (1978, with Richard M. Baranowski), The Colonial Gravestones of Eastern Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them (1987), Lygaeidae of Florida (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) (1990, with Baranowski), A Catalogue of the Lygaeidae of the World (1960–1994) (1995), and True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): Classification and Natural History (1995, with Randall T. Schuh). His leadership extended to presidencies of the Society of Systematic Zoology, Connecticut chapters of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, the Connecticut Entomological Society, and the National Milk Glass Collectors Society; he was vice president of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Association for Gravestone Studies, and served as Connecticut state ornithologist. In 1996, Slater received the Founders' Memorial Award from the Entomological Society of America. Beyond entomology, he researched colonial gravestones and milk glass, authoring works that documented early New England carvers and collectors' items. His contributions significantly advanced insect taxonomy, systematics, and the field of entomology at UConn and beyond.
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