DR. GÜNTER BECHLY

Curator for amber and fossil insects at the
State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart


Photo of Günter Bechly

© Günter Bechly, SMNS, Stuttgart, 2009


Please do not forget to visit the homepage of the NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM in Stuttgart!!!



  • Name: Günter Bechly, Ph.D.
    Office address:
    Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
    Rosenstein 1
    D-70191 Stuttgart / GERMANY
    Phone: +49 - (0) 711 - 89 36 - 242
    Fax: +49 - (0) 711 - 89 36 - 100
    Email: guenter.bechly@smns-bw.de
    Internet: http://science.naturkundemuseum-bw.de/de/palaeontologie/bechly
  • Year of birth: 1963 (in Sindelfingen, Germany).
  • Marital status: Married.
  • Education: I studied biology (entomology), parasitology and palaeontology at the Eberhard-Karls Universität in Tübingen / Germany. I made my diploma degree (= M.Sc.) in biology in 1994 with the diploma thesis "Morphologische Untersuchungen am Flügelgeäder der rezenten Libellen und deren Stammgruppenvertreter (Insecta; Pterygota; Odonata) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Phylogenetischen Systematik und des Grundplanes der *Odonata" under supervision of Dr. Gerhard Mickoleit (Inst. Zool., Univ. Tübingen). In 1999 I finished my Ph.D. in palaeontology with summa cum laude with the thesis "Phylogeny and systematics of fossil dragonflies (Insecta: Odonatoptera) with special reference to some Mesozoic outcrops" under supervision of Prof. W.E. Reif (Inst. Palaeont., Univ. Tübingen), also refereed by Prof. C. Brauckmann (TU Clausthal) and Prof. R. Willmann (Univ. Göttingen). Parts of this Ph.D. thesis have been accomplished at MCZ, Harvard University.
  • Grants: Two working contracts in 1994/1995 within the "Sonderforschungsbereich 230 Natürliche Konstruktionen" (Geol. Institut, Univ. Tübingen). Travel-Grant (1997) by the ESF Network on Fossil Insects of the European Science Foundation. Two years (1996-1998) Grafög-Promotionsstipendium of LGFG Baden-Württemberg.
  • Profession: Palaeoentomologist.
  • Position: Scientific employee as curator for amber and fossil insects in the palaeontological department of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart (since 1999).
  • Current research projects: Fossil history, evolution and phylogeny of dragonflies and other basal pterygote insects ("Palaeoptera"); fossil insects from Mesozoic limestones and from amber; and the OmniPhyloTree-project, which is a hyperbolic phylogenetic/phylogenomic supertree of all taxa of fossil and recent organisms above the genus level from bacteria to men (currently including 24.346 taxa).
  • General research interests: Insect evolution, phylogeny and fossil history; phylogenetic systematics of fossil and extant dragonflies and damselflies; "higher" phylogeny of all groups of organisms (the universal "tree of life", incl. genomics); evolutionary biology; theory of biological systematics; species concepts; and biophilosophy.
  • Other interests: Philosophical implications of modern physics (big bang, multiverse, relativity, quantum mechanics, and TOEs); philosophy of space and time (incl. the problems of temporal identity and change, persistance, and causality); philosophy of mind, consciousness (qualia), free will, ethics, and science; supplementary theories of biological evolution (symbiogenesis, selforganisation, quantum evolution); Whiteheadian Process Philosophy (incl. transformed process theism sensu L.S. Ford and R.C. Neville) and Absolute Idealism as alternative naturalistic metaphysics to materialism, physicalism, atheism, determinism, reductionism, and scientism; norse neopaganism (Wicca); Norse prehistory, ancient history, mythology and pagan religion; Apple Mac OSX und iOS, Web 2.0 (e.g. Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr), and open source/open content/open access movements; geolibertarianism; science fiction and fantasy movies and novels; environmentalism, deep ecology and Gaia theory; travelling; digital photography and digital image processing.



    • Scientific Publications:

    Published works and works in press:

    Submitted manuscripts and papers in prep.:



    TV Features


    Radio Interviews



    Organized Exhibitions



    Scientific honorary posts



    New species described by me:
    A recent list of 82 new genera and 97 new species (status Nov. 2011) of fossil insects described in papers authored and/or co-authored by me, can be retrieved with this
    EDNA databank request [PDF snapshot].
    However, this list does not include the 33 new species described in JARZEMBOWSKI et al. (1998), FLECK et al. (2001, 2003, 2004, 2008), PETRULEVICIUS et al. (2007), MARTILL et al. (2007), and NEL & BECHLY (2009). In 2010 the descriptions of further 3 new families, 12 new genera, and 18 new odonate species have been published by me, and further are in press for 2011. Otherwise, I have only described the fossil enteropneust worm Mesobalanoglossus buergeri from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone in BECHLY & FRICKHINGER (1999).
    Consequently, I have described 149 new species and numerous new genera and higher taxa, incl. the new neuropterous insect order Schwickertoptera and the new palaeopterous insect order Coxoplectoptera (STANICZEK, BECHLY & GODUNKO, 2011 in press).

    Eponymy (taxa named by other scientists after me):



    My Scientific Webpages:
    (Please note: the 2002 version of most of these websites are electronically published as offline-pages on the following CD-ROM: Schorr, M. & Lindeboom, M., eds, (2003): Dragonfly Research 1.2003. Zerf - Tübingen (ISSN 1438-034x)


    My Homepage of Odonatology


    My most recent views on odonate phylogeny are presented in this interactive hyperbolic tree made with Inxight StarTree Studio.
    (you can search the tree, and you can manipulate the tree with your mouse)


    My List of all known species of fossil dragonflies from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones (99KB, PDF, in German)


    My Synoptic Time Table of Earth History (148 KB)


    My Glossary of Phylogenetic Systematics (106 KB)


    My phylogenetic tree of all life (incl. more than 23.000 fossil and recent taxa from bacteria to humans) presented as interactive hyperbolic tree made with Inxight StarTree Studio.


    Reports and Interviews on the Web:


    Interview "Kreationisten irren: Mising Links sind überaus häufig" with G. Bechly about insect evolution by the journalist Ernst Probst (published online on Nov. 30th 2007 in German)     (PDF)


    Interview about DNA in amber, made 2004 by Edda Schlager for "Scinexx - Das Wissensmagazin - Dossier" (in German)     (PDF)


    "Mensch oder Affe oder beides" German newspaper article of my public lecture about evolution (published in Nord-Rundschau on Nov. 28th 2011)     (PDF)


    German newspaper article on my phylogenetic tree of life project     (PDF)


    German newspaper article about a public talk on insect evolution     (PDF)


    SWR2 interview and mp3-podcast on my phylogenetic tree of life project     (MP3-file)



    Other sites that use my new phylogenetic classification of odonates:

    MIKKO's Phylogeny Archive (PDF)

    PALAEOS: The Trace of Life on Earth (PDF)

    CATSCLEM (PDF)


    And please do not forget to visit the homepage of the NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM in Stuttgart!!!



    Last Update: 3rd February, 2012

    © Günter Bechly, SMNS, Stuttgart, 2009