Elizabeth A. McMahan Entomological Research Films and Manuscripts 1983-2010

Entomologist Elizabeth A. McMahan, known as Betty, was best known for her study of assassin bugs and termites. McMahan was a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill for 26 years. In addition to her entomological career, McMahan worked as a research psychologist, cartoonist, writer of children's books. She traveled widely for her entomological research and for pleasure.

Elizabeth McMahan was born in Pino, North Carolina. Intending to become a high school science teacher, McMahan attended Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., after leaving Pino. While at Appalachian State, a faculty advisor introduced McMahan to parapsychology, and she transferred to Duke University in order to work with J. B. Rhine. From 1943 to 1954, McMahan completed her B.A. and M.A. in psychology and published nine papers.

In 1954, McMahan decided to pursue a degree in entomology. She studied termites at the University of Hawaii, receiving her Ph.D. in 1960. She completed post-doctoral work at the University of Chicago and then took a teaching job at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she taught for 26 years.

McMahan's research took her all over the world, including Australia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Panama, and Ecuador. While in Costa Rica in 1980, McMahan discovered that assassin bugs (Salyavata variegata) used tools in order to catch food. She published articles about the insects in several scientific journals and videotaped the food-catching process for the BBC documentary Alien Empire.

After retiring, McMahan became a professor emerita at UNC. She taught in Jamaica as a Peace Corps volunteer and also became a children's book author. A collection of her books is located at the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

In 2003, Dutch taxonomist Pieter van Doesburg named a newly classified species of the assassin bug after McMahan, Salyavata MacMahanae. In 2004, McMahan's friend and colleague Christine Nalepa established the Elizabeth A. McMahan Endowment at North Carolina State University. This endowment enhances the libraries' entomological collections.

The Elizabeth A. McMahan Entomological Research Films and Manuscripts collection consists of twenty-two reels of 8mm film documenting McMahan's research on the assassin bug (Salyavata variegata) in La Selva, Costa Rica. These insects use dead termites as bait in order to catch other termites, a technique similar to fishing. The films depict various stages of this process, such as the assassin bug waiting outside a termite hole with his bait, the assassin bug catching termites with the bait, and the assassin bug returning to the hole to catch more termites. Some of the films show unsuccessful baiting attempts. Others show McMahan destroying a nest in order to find the royal chamber. This collection also includes four of her research journals.

McMahan indicated Reels #1-2, #2-1, #2-2, #2-3, Assassins of La Selva #2-1200 Reel 1, and Assassins of La Selva #2-1200 Reel 3 are the most important.

The collection also includes illustrated, self-published manuscripts, including a children's book as well as autobiographical writings and a bibliographical journal article on her life. Also included is the Sociobiology Journal, vol. 56, no. 1, 2010 edition to include chapter on Elizabeth Anne McMahan written by Christine A. Nalepa.

The films are stored on 400-foot reels. McMahan stated that these films used to be on 1200-foot reels and have since been divided. Therefore Films #1-2 and #1-3 belong together, Films #2-1, #2-2, and #2-3 belong together, Assassins of La Selva 400 Reel 1 and Reels 5-12 belong together, Assassins of La Selva #1-200 Reels 1-3 belong together, Assassins of La Selva #2-1200 Reels 1 and 3 belong together, and Assassins of La Selva #3-1200 Reels 1-3 belong together.

The descriptions for the reels listed below are the descriptions McMahan wrote on the reel labels. They have been transcribed as accurately as possible.

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.

[Identification of item], Elizabeth A. McMahan Entomological Research Films and Manuscripts, MC 00359, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Received in several accessions, August 2003-July 2013.