Michael Matthew Kane (1950 - 1985)

On November 2, 1985, Dr Michael KANE, Instructor in Biology at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, died of leukemia at his home in Warren, Michigan.

Dr KANE was born in Michigan on October 6, 1950, and received the Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, in 1972. For the Master of Science degree, earned at the same institution in 1974, he studied the anatomy, taxonomy and natural history of the diplopod genus Polyxenus in Michigan, and he expanded his work to cover all Nearctic Penicillata for his doctoral research at Michigan State University, Langsing. This work, currently unpublished, was a comprehensive analysis of the anatomy and biology of material from across North America and included scanning electron microscopy. He concluded that the six nominal Nearctic species-group taxa of Polyxenus were all syn onyms of the Palearctic species Polyxenus lagurus (L.), thus establishing that P. lagurus is holarctic and widespread through North America.

After receiving the Ph. D. degree in 1981, Dr KANE conducted cytogenetics research on lemurs on a postdoctorate at Tulane University, and he continued this work as an Instructor in the Biology Department. He taught biology courses in several public schools in Michigan and lectured and handled laboratories in a number of biology courses at Eastern Michigan and Michigan State Universities. At Tulane he taught course in Entomology and Microorganisms and received rare reviews for his dedication to his art. He continually expressed interest in millipeds in letters to me but never returned to them. However, he will be remembered for his work on Polyxenus. Options are being examined to publish his Ph. D. thesis posthumously.



Rowland M. Shelley, March 1986
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