KANSAS WORKERS WHO STUDIED THE
ELMO SITE -
Students and professors from Kansas Universities have visited the Elmo site over the years and have made many collections there. The most consistent Kansas collector may have been Prof. D.A. Wilbur, who collected some 2800 specimens between 1928 and 1976 and donated those specimens to Harvard upon his retirement from Kansas State University. I regret that I have no photos of Dr. Wilbur or of most other KSU personnel who worked the site over the years. Anyone who has old photos and is willing to share them can email me at royb@southwind.net - I can scan and promptly return any pictures, and will give full credit to the contributors. I have received photos of Otto Wenger, one of the co-discoverers of the Megatypus schucherti wing that was taken from Elmo in 1939, and some of these are posted below (with courtesy of and permission of Mrs. Ellen Wenger, Mr. Wenger's wife).
University of Kansas personnel also worked at the Elmo site over the years, and Dr. George W. Byers (above, right), Emeritus Professor of Entomology from KU, supplied a number of photos from his personal files that are reproduced here with his permission. The photo of George and me was taken at the April, 2001 meeting of the Kansas (Central States) Entomological Society in Lawrence, where we gave a paper, "Notes on a fossil specimen of Dunbaria fasciipennis Tillyard 1924 (Palaeodictyoptera: Spilapteridae) in the Snow Entomological Collection". (Since submitted to J. Kansas Entomological Society for publication.)
Left:
Mr. Otto Wenger circa 1939, in his college days. In 1939,
Mr. Wenger, and fellow KSU entomology student Floyd Holmes, discovered a nearly complete wing of the protodonate Megatypus
schucherti. Both the part and counterpart were preserved, one going to
the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the other remaining with the
Entomology Dept. at KSU. This is one of the best preserved Protodonata
specimens known.
Below is a photo of Mr. Wenger as he appeared in later
life. Both photos provided by and used with permission of Mrs. Ellen Wenger.
(I am sorry to report that Mrs. Wenger has 
informed me that Mr. Wenger died on
Sept. 2, 2002. )
Through the good will of Prof. John Reese of KSU and the Kansas Entomological Society, I learned that Floyd Holmes had recently visited KSU. John put me in touch with Mr. Holmes, and I now have a couple of photos of him as well as a reminiscence of the discovery of the Megatypus specimen.
The story is based on a telephone conversation between Mr. Holmes and me in the fall o f 2006.
The Megatypus wing was found on Mr. Holmes' first visit to the Elmo
fossil site. Mr. Wenger had been to the site previously. The visit
in question was on a Saturday, and was a field trip of the Popenoe
Club (a student entomology club formed at KSU in 1921 and named for Edwin
Alonzo Popenoe, an early Kansas entomologist). Just as the group of
students (other students attending included J. B. Tucker and Everett Blood) was
preparing to leave, Mr. Holmes picked up a piece of rock and hit it with his
hammer - the first blow split the rock and it opened up to reveal half of the
Megatypus wing.
He told Mr. Wenger to look for the rest of the fossil. Otto Wenger picked
up a likely looking piece and split it to reveal the rest of the wing. As
Mr. Wenger related to me, Professors Painter and Smith soon got hold of the
extraordinary fossil specimen, and the rest is history. Thanks very much
to John Reese and Floyd Holmes for helping me to add to this interesting story
of Kansas paleoentomology.
Right: Mr. Floyd Holmes in 1941.
Left: Mr. Holmes in a more recent picture, taken in 1997. Both photos courtesy of Floyd Holmes, who currently resides in Grove, Oklahoma.
The
photo at left, supplied by G.W. Byers, was taken by Marjorie Hamilton
on 14 March 1977 using George Byers' camera. The workers are (standing, from left to right): George W. Byers,
"Ernie" May, "Matt" Douglas, Steve Cole, Steve Hamilton,
Cole Gilbert, and (sitting) "Coby" Schal.
Photo
at left by G.W. Byers, 19 Oct. 1991, KU entomologists working at Elmo,
Kansas. Pictured here are Steve Ashe of the Snow Entomological Museum
(foreground with hammer), Deb Smith (behind Steve), and Elad Yarom (beside
Steve).
In the photo
at right, again by G. W. Byers and taken on the
19 Oct. 1991 trip, are: Ilan Yarom (with shovel), Bob Minckley, Stephan
Reyes, and Mary Liz Jameson. Mary Liz is currently at the University of
Nebraska, Lincoln.
(Thanks to Steve Buchmann for correcting my spelling error
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