Boris Pimenovitch CHEVRIZOV - papers on Opiliones
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Boris Pimenovitch CHEVRIZOV Борис Пименович Чевризов
BIOGRAPHY: Born on June 28th, 1951 in a simple family in Nesterov, a small town in Kaliningrad Area, Boris P. Chevrizov passed away on April 19th, 1993 after a long-term sickness. In the mid-50s his family moved to Oktyabrsk, a town in Samara Area, Volga region, where Boris graduated a secondary school. His interest in zoology arose when he was 12, so he never doubted where to gо for higher education. In 1970, despite a strong competition, Boris Chevrizov entered the Biological Faculty of the Moscow State University. This was due to Dr. S. I. Ljovuschkin that Boris chose his first zооlоgiсаl specialization -- like his supervisor, he got interested in the cavernicolous fauna. His special interest lay in the insect family Campodeidae, order Diplura, a group quite common in forest litter and caves, especially in warmer areas. During his higher education, Boris executed several field trips, with the result of publication of a number of new genera and species of chiefly cavernicolous Diplura from the Caucasus and the Far East of Russia. [Rest of text at the bottom of this page]. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS PAGE:
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Credits
Page
created Copyright © 2006-2012 by Adriano B. Kury.
Picture of
B Chevrizov from necrology (Marusik & Golovatch, 1993), courtesy of Dmitri
Logunov.
Biographical sketch reproduced integrally from Marusik
& Golovatch, 1993.
In 1975, after graduation, Boris Chevrizov was Invited as a post-graduate
student to the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad
(now St. Petersburg). There, under the supervision of a prominent Russian'
arachnologist, Prof. Y. S. Balashov, and in close scientific and personal
co-operation with another famous zoologist, Prof. Y. I. Starobogatov,
Boris resumed studies in Russian Opiliones using the Leningrad Museum's
highly important harvest-spider collection and unpublished notes of his
predecessor, the late Dr. A. A. Bialynicki-Birula, whose arachnological
research terminated in the 30s due to his arrest for political reasons.
Being a tireless field explorer, Boris Chevrizov executed several collecting
trips to the Ukraine, Lithuania, Leningrad, Volga region, the Far East,
etc. He also incorporated abundant materials deriving from various institutions
throughout the ex-USSR and concentrated on the fauna of the Opiliones
of the USSR European part. This culminated In a Ph. D. thesis, successfully
defended in 1981, and the publication of the first identification book
of the Opiliones of the Russian Plain.
Until 1983, Boris Chevrizov worked at a research station of the All-Union
Institute for Plant Protection near Leningrad. This job was completely
fruitless in terms of scientific publications, the more so as Boris felt
increasingly ill.
In 1983, Dr. D. I. Berman invited Boris Chevrizov to his lab at the Institute
for the Biological Problems of the North, Academy of Sciences, Magadan,
and Boris successfully resumed his studies on the taxonomy, ecоlоgy, physiology,
and spatial distribution of various soil/litter-dwelling arthropods, Diplura
and Opiliones in particular. Working at the .Aborigen. Research Station
in the upper reaches of Kolyma River, he collected copious materials and
even developed a new, highly efficient thermophotoeclector for censusing
soil macrofauna.
Regrettably,
increasing health problems did not allow him a long carrier at a field
research station, nor did he publish much. In 1985, he took the position
of a research fellow at the Pacific Institute for Fish Research, Sea of
Okhotsk Branch, Magadan. He participated in several seа cruises on board
research vessels, studying Crustacea, mainly shrimps, as a nutritive base
for the Pacific herring. However, nothing has elapsed as a result of those
studies. In 1991, after he had spent a, few months as a biology teacher
at a Magadan secondary school, Boris Chevrizov had to retire. They were
severe health problems that did not allow him to conduct any kind of research
until his death this spring.
Altogether, Boris P. Chevrizov described seven new species and two new
genera of Diplura as well as one new species of Opiliones and Aranei apiece.
Thе standard of the descriptions was very high, supplied with Boris' excellent
original illustrations. It seems so unfortunate that such a gifted scientist
as Boris Chevrizov has spent such a short life. He was an excellent guitarist,
singing countless songs he learned since his years of study at the Moscow
University... He will always be remembered by his friends and colleagues
as a highly gifted zoologist and an amiable personality.
Reference
Marusik,
Yuri & Sergei Golovatch, 1993. Personalia. Boris Pimenovitch Chevrizov (1951-1993).
Arthropoda Selecta, Moscou, 2(3): 77-78.