John Turner

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John Turner researched Heliconius and the related genera for about a quarter of a century, from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. His interests were in the evolution of mimicry, the genetic basis for the mimetic patterns, establishing the pattern of parallel variation both within melpomene and erato (there being no clear presentation in the literature) and between higher subdivisions of Heliconius, the explanation of polymorphism (mostly “hybrid” zones), and behavioural ecology (home-range behaviour, communal roosting). He worked initially with the New York Zoological Society group in the person of Jocelyn Crane and in the spirit of William Beebe, who had died not long before leaving published but unanalysed genetic broods of H. erato. His work later involved extensive collaborations particularly with Keith Brown and Philip Sheppard.

Selected publications