About Us
Our Mission
Creating a supportive and inclusive community where individuals passionate about Isopoda and Myriapoda can connect, share knowledge, and collaborate in their pursuit of understanding these often overlooked creatures.
Our History
The study of Isopoda and Myriapoda in North and Central America has been historically neglected, resulting in a significant gap in our understanding of their biology, ecology, and distribution. To address this issue, Nathan Jones and Sequoia Wrens founded the American Isopod and Myriapod Group (AIMG) on October 1, 2022. The AIMG was established with the mission of bridging the knowledge gap surrounding North and Central American Isopoda and Myriapoda. To accomplish this goal, Nathan Jones and Sequoia Wrens enlisted the support of seven other professional and amateur scientists to assist in the group's formation. Initially, the AIMG operated through a Discord server; however, on January 1, 2023, the group launched this website to make the information they had gathered more widely accessible. The website provides comprehensive information on the taxonomy, biology, and distribution of Isopoda and Myriapoda in North and Central America, along with resources for identification, conservation, and research.
The AIMG's ultimate aim is to serve as a comprehensive guide to North American Isopods, providing an invaluable resource for scientists, educators, and naturalists interested in studying this understudied group.. We believe that through our efforts, we can contribute to a deeper understanding of these fascinating creatures and encourage further research into their biology and ecology.
Meet the Committee
We the AIMG Group Committee are a dedicated group of amateur and professional researchers who share a passion for promoting research, education, and awareness in the field of invertebrate biology, with a specific focus on isopods and myriapods. Our committee is composed of highly experienced and knowledgeable individuals who work collaboratively to support our mission and vision. We strive to foster a supportive community of acadimics and hobbyists alike who are enthusiastic about invertebrate biology, and we encourage engagement and participation from all individuals who share our interests. As a committee, we are committed to providing a variety of services to our members and the broader community, including specimen identification, ecological and agricultural risk assessments, literature searches, and mentorship opportunities for aspiring researchers. We are also dedicated to organizing educational events and conferences to further promote invertebrate biology research and education. We invite you to explore our website and to reach out to us with any questions or inquiries you may have. Thank you for your interest in our committee, and we look forward to connecting with you!
Nathan Jones
General Manager, Lead Editor,
Co-founder
Nathan is a home-schooled high school student through Bridgeway Academy. His future career goals include, genetics, ecology, behavior, and taxonomy, with a emphasis on biogeography and understudied topics such reproductive behavior, and arthropod spatial cognition.
He is one of the group's seven co-founders. When he is not working on the betterment of the AIMG you will find him on iNaturalist where he has contributed over 61,000 identifications, 46,000 of which are Isopoda foucused. He is one of the only active Isopoda curators helping keep iNaturalist's taxonomic data up to date. Nathan also assists Dr. Carlos and the APHIS team with many aspects of the huge trade of isopods. Including working on a revision of the terrestrial Isopoda distribution in the contiguous United States, and adding more species to their current list. He is also working with multiple isopodologists across the United States with Oniscidean biogeographical studies.
Sequoia Wrens
Lead Isopod Taxonomist, Co-founder
Sequoia is a recent graduate from SUNY-ESF. Her future career goals include taxonomy and field study, mainly of Isopods. She is currently working on a global isopod synthesis collecting information on taxonomy, ecology and morphology of all known isopods.
Oonagh Degenhardt
Lead Artist, Co-founder
Oonagh is a home-schooled high school student. Her future career goals include genetics, ecology, and biology.
Being raised by biologists she has been exposed to science and field work her entire life and she is often out in the field looking for and photographing herps and inverts with the occasional bird. She has experience with field collection, genomic diet studies, animal husbandry, species identification, animal photography, and color genetics. She is currently working on several papers on various Chilopoda and Isopoda.
She is one of the group's six co-founders. She is a moderator on the group's discord server and the primary artist for the group.
Benedikt Kästle
Co-founder
Benedikt is currently studying Pre- and Early History at the University of Tübingen and works as an academic assistant in the working group Terrestrial Paleoclimatology of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironments. He is currently involved in research projects on Sauropodomorphs from Southern Germany.
Since 2022 he is part of the expert team for terrestrial isopods at the Red List Centre of Germany (Rote-Liste-Zentrum). He has experience with phylogenetic analysis, Micro-CT scanning, mapping, morphology, species identification and macro photography. His interests are especially in morphology and taxonomy.