Dr. Krell is the curator of entomology in the Department of Zoology. He received his diploma in biology (1992) and his doctorate (1996) from the University of Tübingen in Germany. His postdoctoral research took him to the Ivory Coast in West Africa where he led a project on beetle biodiversity with the University of Würzburg, Germany.
After a short period with the Zoological Research Institute and Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, Germany, he became a research entomologist with The Natural History Museum, London, UK, in 2000. Before joining DMNS in January 2007, he was the head of the beetle division in London. Dr. Krell is co-editor of the journal Systematic Entomology and commissioner of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
Dr Krell's specialty is taxonomy, systematics, and ecology of scarab beetles, especially dung beetles. Recording and explaining the high diversity in this insect group, as well as exploring the effects of anthropogenic habitat changes on dung beetle communities, are two main areas of his research. He is also working on fossil scarab faunas and has done fieldwork on all continents except Antarctica, with the main focus on Africa.
Current Projects
- Colorado Scarab Survey
- Taxonomy of African Dung Beetles
- Influence of Human Disturbance—Agriculture, Forestry, Urbanization—on Dung Beetle Communities and Biodiversity
- The Fossil Record of Scarab Beetles—Amber, Messel, Isle of Wight, Laetoli, Jehol, etc.
- Web Catalogue of the Beetles of Mauritius—with Saoud Motala, Natural History Museum, London
Recent Publications
KRELL, F.-T. 2006. Fossil Record and Evolution of Scarabaeoidea (PDF | 577KB) (Coleoptera: Polyphaga). Coleopterists Society Monograph 5: 120-143.
KRELL, F.-T., Chung, A.Y.C., DeBoise, E., Eggleton, P., Giusti, A., Inward, K., Krell-Westerwalbesloh, S. 2005. Quantitative extraction of macro-invertebrates from temperate and tropical leaf litter and soil: Efficiency and time-dependent taxonomic biases of the Winkler method (PDF | 263KB). Pedobiologia 49: 175-186.
Schmitt, T., KRELL, F.-T. & Linsenmair, K.E. 2004. Quinone mixture as attractant for necrophagous dung beetles specialized on dead millipedes (PDF | 147KB). Journal of Chemical Ecology 30: 731-740.
Krell, F.-T. 2004. Parataxonomy vs. taxonomy in biodiversity studies – pitfalls and applicability of ‘morphospecies’ sorting (PDF | 119KB). Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 795-812.
Krell, F.-T., Krell-Westerwalbesloh, S., Weiß, I., Eggleton, P. & Linsenmair, K.E. 2003. Spatial separation of Afrotropical dung beetle guilds: a trade-off between competitive superiority and energetic constraints (PDF | 257KB) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Ecography 26: 210-222.
