Ashleigh Whiffin
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Harper Adams University (MSc)
National Museum of Scotland
Ashleigh Whiffin | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Derby (BSc) Harper Adams University (MSc) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Entomology |
| Institutions | Edinburgh University National Museum of Scotland |
Ashleigh Whiffin is an entomologist in the UK. She is a curator at the National Museum of Scotland and a specialist in carrion beetles (Silphidae).
Whiffin studied BSc (Hons) in forensic science at the University of Derby, during which she specialised in forensic entomology.[1] She moved on to do MSc Entomology at Harper Adams University, and then started as a research technician at the University of Edinburgh working on burying beetles in Jacob Moorad's lab.[2]
In 2014 she joined National Museums Scotland (NMS) as a Collections Assistant, she progressed to Curatorial Assistant and as of 2021 is Assistant Curator of Entomology.[3]
Research
Whiffin has carried out forensic entomology research,[4] as well as work on the insects attracted to plants with carrion flowers, such as the carrion beetle Necrodes littoralis which as attracted to the Titan arum 'New Reekie' at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the first time that carrion beetles have been recorded attracted to the plant species outside of Indonesia'.[5]
She has worked on Ichneumonid wasps within the NMS collection[6] and has taught courses on the care of entomological specimens.[7]
Whiffin is co-organiser of the UK carrion beetle species national biological recording scheme,[8][9] she has written about carrion beetles for popular science magazines[10] and in 2021 published a UK species atlas and identification guide on the Histeridae, Sphaeritidae and Silphidae of Britain and Ireland.[11]
