About

John D. Oswald, Ph.D., is a professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Entomology and the Curator of the Texas A&M University Insect Collection. His research interests lie in the fields of insect evolution, biodiversity, and systematics, with a special focus on the systematics of the world species of the superorder Neuropterida, which includes approximately 7,500 species in the orders Neuroptera, Megaloptera, and Raphidioptera. Additional interests include entomological research collection development and management, as well as biodiversity informatics, particularly the dissemination of synthetic systematics research via interactive, updatable, web publications as massively integrated resources. Oswald has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in insect morphology, biodiversity, biology, and evolution.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Zoology
• Agronomy
• Botany
• Paleontology
• Agroforestry

Selected publications

• Apertochrysa Tjeder, 1966, a new senior synonym of Pseudomallada Tsukaguchi 1995 (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae: Chrysopinae: Chrysopini)

  The Catalogue of Life · 2026-02-16

  datasetOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A world checklist of extant and extinct species of Megaloptera (Insecta: Neuropterida)

  The Catalogue of Life · 2026-02-16

  datasetOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Apertochrysa Tjeder, 1966, a new senior synonym of Pseudomallada Tsukaguchi 1995 (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae: Chrysopinae: Chrysopini)

  The Catalogue of Life · 2026-02-17

  datasetOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Catalog of the Neuropterida of India (Insecta: Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Raphidioptera)

  The Catalogue of Life · 2026-02-16

  datasetOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Larvae of Abachrysa eureka (Banks) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae: Belonopterygini) descriptions and a discussion of the evolution of myrmecophily in Chrysopidae

  The Catalogue of Life · 2026-02-16

  datasetOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Catalog of the Neuropterida of India (Insecta: Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Raphidioptera)

  Zootaxa · 2024-12-05 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  A catalog of the species and subspecies of Neuropterida (Insecta: Neuroptera, Megaloptera, and Raphidioptera) occurring in modern India is presented, based primarily on an extensive review of relevant literature published through mid 2024. The currently known extant fauna comprises 3 orders, 15 families, 129 genera, 368 species, and 6 subspecies (Neuroptera: 11 families, 119 genera, 332 species; Megaloptera: 2 families, 8 genera, 31 species; Raphidioptera: 2 families, 2 genera, 5 species). In addition, one extinct species is known, †Spiloconis eominuta (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae). Catalog entries contain taxonomic, synonymical, and nomenclatural data for all nominal taxa, and geographical occurrence data are provided for all valid species and subspecies. There are 171 species (46% of the fauna) presently known only from India that are possibly endemic, and 25 species previously reported from the country are excluded from the fauna.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• First Modern Record of a Giant Lacewing (Neuroptera: Ithonidae: Polystoechotes punctata (Fabricius, 1793)) from Texas

  Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington · 2024-01-31

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Desertification

  Elsevier eBooks · 2023-01-01 · 8 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Comparative Morphology of Wax Gland Heads in Adult Dustywings (Insecta: Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae)

  Insects · 2023-07-20 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  In the largest comparative study of coniopterygid wax gland head morphology to date, we used scanning electron microscopy to illustrate the ultrastructure of gland heads found in 2 subfamilies (Aleuropteryginae and Coniopteryginae), 5 tribes (Aleuropterygini, Coniocompsini, Coniopterygini, Conwentziini, and Fontenelleini), 9 genera (Aleuropteryx, Coniopteryx, Coniocompsa, Conwentzia, Cryptoscenea, Heteroconis, Semidalis, Spiloconis, and Thecosemidalis), and 28 species of Palearctic and Oriental dustywings collected from a variety of sites across China. We propose a new descriptive terminology to concisely characterize the major elements of gland head ultrastructure and then identify similarities and differences among them and provide detailed descriptions of the wax gland heads found in each of the nine genera examined. Based on the range of taxa examined, we propose hypotheses about the functional morphology of some of the ultrastructural elements examined and relate them to wax ring formation in dustywings. An identification key for the examined genera based on gland head morphology is also presented.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• List of contributors

  Elsevier eBooks · 2023-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• PEET: Antlion Systematics: building global expertise in the Myrmeleontidae (Insecta: Neuroptera)

  NSF · $749k · 2010–2016

• The Global Lacewing Digital Library: Delivering the Core Taxonomic Resources of the Neuropterida of the World (Insecta: Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Raphidioptera) via the WWW.

  NSF · $235k · 2004–2009

Frequent coauthors

• Martin Meinander

  University of Helsinki

  16 shared

• Muhammad Asghar Hassan

  Guizhou University

  11 shared

• Renato José Pires Machado

  Universidade Federal do Paraná

  7 shared

• V. A. Drake

  UNSW Sydney

  6 shared

• Shahid Akbar

  6 shared

• Sarah E. Harris

  5 shared

• Catherine A. Tauber

  Cornell University

  5 shared

• John Hendrickson

  Agricultural Research Service

  4 shared

Education

• B.S., Forest Management

  Oregon State University

• M.S., Entomology

  Oregon State University

• Ph.D., Systematic Entomology

  Cornell University