Professor of Aquatic Biology, University of PlymouthVising Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Deputy Director, NERC ARIES DTP
Faculty of Science and Engineering PGR lead, University of Plymouth.
My research focuses on a variety of ecological and evolutionary issues, mainly using aquatic insects as models. I have published over 200 scientific papers and four authored books, as well as a number of invited reviews and book chapters. A lot of recent work has focused on the diverse fauna of the Republic of South Africa.

Deputy Director, NERC ARIES DTP NERC Peer Review College - Member 2009-date.
Subject Editor - Zootaxa
Subject Editor - Biodiversity Data Journal
Associate Editor - Journal of Insect Conservation

Editorial Board- Psyche: A Journal of Entomology

Aquatic Coleoptera Conservation Trust - ACCT . ACCT was founded to promote and co-ordinate conservation and research work on threatened water beetles. Aquatic beetles are a diverse group, and are excellent indicators of habitat quality, age, and 'naturalness'. Around 400 species of British beetle live in water for a significant proportion of their lives, including the familiar diving beetles. Many species have shown significant and dramatic contractions in range since the mid 20th century, in response to a variety of factors, particularly agricultural intensification and associated drainage of wetlands and increases in diffuse pollution, leading to eutrophication. (Secretary) .

Ponds Advisory Council . International body concerned with the biology and conservation of small water bodies. Ponds harbour the vast majority of regional aquatic biodiversity in most countries, but are often ignored by ecologists, who study the larger (and often ecologically simpler!) lakes and rivers instead. (Member).
Balfour-Browne Club . Aquatic Coleoptera World specialist group, with over 200 members, who, like water beetles, are distributed on all continents except Antarctica. Co-ordinated from the UK. (Committee Member).

Grant Referee for NERC, BBSRC, Austrian Science Foundation, Icelandic Research Fund.
Invited Referee for numerous journals, including: Molecular Ecology, Proceeding of the Royal Society Series B, Journal of Applied Ecology, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Freshwater Biology, Conservation Genetics, Invertebrate Reproduction and Development, Functional Ecology, Hydrobiologia, Aquatic Conservation, Ecology Letters, Vie et Milieu, Annales Zoologici Fennici, Archive fur Hydrobiologie, Aquatic Insects, Diversity and Distributions, Ecography, Biological Conservation, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Estuaries, Journal of Biogeography, Ecological Entomology.

New animals I've named

Genera

Beetles
Capelatus Bilton & Turner, 2015
Introduced for a newly-discovered species - an isolated lineage of diving beetles endemic to the far southwest of the South African Cape. Closest relatives in Australasia.
Riberazantaena Bilton, 2021
Two species of litter-dwelling 'water' beetles from montane forests in the Eastern Arcs of Tanzania.
Rhithrops Bilton & Shepard, 2022
Long-legged, deep water river dweller from the Cederberg, Western Cape of South Africa. Morphologically highly divergent from any known relatives.
Mesoceratops Bilton & Jach, 2022
New genus required following our work on the phylogeny and biogeography of Southern Hemisphere hydraenid water beetles.

Species

Mammals
Talpa hakkariensis Gunduz, Dermitas, Silsupur, Ozmen, Polly & Bilton, 2023
New mole discovered recently in eastern Anatolia, highly distinctive on both morphology and DNA.
Talpa davidiana tatvanensis Gunduz, Dermitas, Silsupur, Ozmen, Polly & Bilton, 2023
Another new Anatolian mole. Whilst this is morphologically quite distinct, we use the subspecies category due to the limited molecular divergence of this taxon, which occurs allopatrically wrt. T. davidiana davidiana.

Isopods (Woodlice)
Oniscus ancarensis Bilton, 1992
Terrestrial isopod (woodlouse), endemic to NW Spain
Oniscus asellus occidentalis Bilton, 1994
Terrestrial isopod (woodlouse), known from the UK, Ireland and France, first recognized in Dartmoor woodlands. Frequently hydridizes with the common Oniscus asellus aselluswhere the two meet.
Oniscus galicianus Bilton, 1997
Terrestrial isopod (woodlouse), endemic to NW Spain

Beetles
Hydraena zezerensis Diaz-Pazos & Bilton, 1995
A hydraenid water beetle with elaborate male secondary sexual characters - endemic to a single headwater stream at the top of a glacial valley in Portugal's highest mountain massif, the Serra Estrela. Still known from knowhere else - one of the rarest water beetles in Europe.
Agabus picotae Foster & Bilton, 1997
Diving beetle, endemic to SW Portugal and Spain. Associated with wet rock faces beside headwater streams.
Hydraena hosseiniorum Bilton & Jach, 1998
Hydraenid water beetle endemic to the Zagros Mountains in western Iran - the most easterly member of its group.
Stictonectes rebeccae Bilton, 2012
A diving beetle endemic to the north and west of Spain and Portugal.
Discozantaena occidentalis Bilton & Perkins, 2012
A small 'water' beetle which has become secondarily terrestrial, living in damp litter by water. Known only from a single waterhole in West Coast National park, on the Western Cape of South Africa.
Pneuminion fontinalis Bilton & Perkins, 2012
Another small water beetle, restricted to permanent trickles of water, running like condensation on a window pane, in the high mountains near Paarl in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Crenitis bicolor Bilton, 2013
A hydrophilid water beetle so far only known from the high Kamiesberg in the Northern Cape of South Africa, an outlying fragment of the fynbos biome in arid Namaqualand.
Hydraena lotti Bilton, 2013
A small stream dwelling water beetle which I found to be common in high altitude streams in a very small area of the Taygetos Mountains in the Peloponnese, Greece. The 92 member of the "Haenydra" lineage, most of which are similarly narrow-ranged endemics. Its closest relatives are in eastern Greece and central Italy.
Prosthetops wolfbergensis Bilton, 2013
Yet another water beetle, which at 4.2 mm long is by far the largest known 'minute moss beetle' amongst the thousands described to date. Relatively widespread in the Western Cape mountains in South Africa, occurring in temporary pools where rainwater has dissolved bare rock. Named after the Wolfberg Arch, a striking geological feature of the Cederberg mountains, in whose shadow the beetle was abundant.
Sharphydrus brincki Bilton, 2013
A small diving beetle endemic to the Western Cape of South Africa, in mountain streams. The third known member of this genus, which is endemic to temperate South Africa. Named after the late Professor Per Brinck, who first collected this species in the early 1950s.
Sharphydrus kamiesbergensis Bilton, 2013
A small diving beetle so far only known from the high Kamiesberg in the Northern Cape of South Africa - the fourth known species of the genus.
Pterosthetops baini Bilton, 2014
A specialist of wet rock faces, living in a trickles of water and so far known from a single mountain pass in the Cape of South Africa. Named after the guy who directed the pass's construction in the 19th century, making accessible habitat available for these beetles in the process!
Pterosthetops coriaceus Bilton, 2014
A wet-rock seepage specialist, found only at a single site in the Cederberg mountains in South Africa.
Pterosthetops indwei Bilton, 2014
Another wet-rock seepage specialist, known from the Langeberg and Outeniquaberg mountains in South Africa - named after the Blue Crane, an iconic bird of this part of the Cape.
Pterosthetops pulcherrimus Bilton, 2014
Another wet-rock seepage specialist, this time known from one wet mountain pass in the Cederberg of South Africa. Named in reference to its strinking appearance, and the view form the type locality.
Pterosthetops swartbergensis Bilton, 2014
Another wet-rock seepage specialist, found, as its name suggests, in the Groote Swartberg, South Africa.
Pterosthetops tuberculatus Bilton, 2014
Yet another wet-rock seepage specialist - relatively widespread in the Western Cape, South Africa - on mountain passes.
Pterosthetops uitkyki Bilton, 2014
Again a wet-rock seepage specialist, known only from Uitkyk Pass in the Cederberg range, South Africa.
Laccobius leopardus Bilton & Gentili, 2014
Lives in pools in drying river margins on the edge of the Cederberg mountains in South Africa, an area transitional between fynbos and succulent karoo. Named after the leopards which frequent the area, and in reference to its spotted appearance.
Mesoceration hantam Bilton, 2014
From temporary pools and stream on the Hantamsberg, an inselberg in the Northern Cape of South Africa.
Parhydraena faeni Bilton, 2014
Again from temporary pools and stream on the Hantamsberg, an inselberg in the Northern Cape of South Africa.
Yola matsikammae Bilton, 2015
From a stream on the Matsikammaberg, another inselberg, this time on the northern edge of the Fynbos biome in the Western Cape of South Africa.
Capelatus prykei Turner &Bilton, 2015
An entirely new lineage of diving beetle from close to Cape Town. Not related to anything else in sub-Saharan Africa, its closest relatives being in the Mediterranean and Australasia. Also highly endangered by ongoing urbanisation and habitat loss.
Canthyporus namaqualacrimus Bilton, 2015
The name translates as "the tears of Namaqualand". A diving beetle known from seepages over rock in the highest mountains of this arid region of the Northern Cape. These summits present a mesic island in an otherwise semi-desert landscape, and a re home to many endemics.
Canthyporus pallidus Bilton, 2015
A small diving beetle of wet rock seepages and small rockpools on mountains around the edges of Namaqualand, South Africa.
Mesoceration caniplenum Bilton, 2015
A water beetle from trickling streams in the SE of the Drakensberg, South Africa. It's name is in reference to the type locality, Injisuthi, which means 'place of the well-fed dog' in isiZulu, in reference to the formerly abundant game of this area.
Mesoceration foggoi Bilton, 2015
A water beetle endemic to a table mountain at the northern end of the Fynbos biome in South Africa, where it is common in almost all running waters. Named after Andy Foggo, who helped collect it.
Mesoceration helmei Bilton, 2015
Known only from the high Winterhoek mountains in the Cape, in a small stream which spends a couple of months every year under snow. Named after Nick Helme, the South African botanist who dragged me up this mountain!
Mesoceration hirsutum Bilton, 2015
Yet another new species from the Cederberg Mountains, South Africa. Only known from the holotype, in a high altitude stream, where it lived with nine other members of the genus.
Mesoceration rugulosum Bilton, 2015
Known only from a wet rockface beside a mountain stream above Franschhoek, South Africa.
Mesoceration sinclairi Bilton, 2015
Common in a stream flowing down the Kogelberg into False Bay, in the far SW Cape of South Africa. Names after my old friend Magnus Sinclair.
Coelometopon glenavoni Bilton, 2015
Found on wet cliffs in the pray zone of Glen Avon Falls, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Eyes raised up like a hippo so that it can see out of the water film in which it lives.
Oomtelecopon disjunctum Bilton, 2015
A beetle from damp rocks beside a road close to Ceres in the Western Cape - the third new species so far from this place. It's only close relative lives close to Cape Town.
Oomtelecopon namaqum Bilton, 2016
A beetle from damp rocks beside a stream in the Kamiesberg mountains - an area of relatively high rainfall, supporting fynbos, in Namaqualand.
Pterostetops nitidus Bilton, 2016
Wet rockface specialist from the eastern side of False Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Anacaena namaqua Bilton & Komarek, 2016
A common species where it occurs, in both pools and streams, in the area where the fynbos biome meets the succulent karoo in South Africa.
Hydrobiomorpha perissinottoi Bilton, 2016
The first species of this genus of relatively large water scavenger beetles reliably reported from South Africa. Common in iSimangaliso Wetland Park in the NE of the country.
Leielmis gibbosus Bilton, 2017
A relatively common riffle beetle in Western Cape mountain streams, which has previously been overlooked.
Leielmis hirsutus Bilton, 2017
One high altitude stream at ca. 1,200 m in the Western cape of South Africa. Common there.
Pterosthetops chrysomallus Bilton, 2017
Wet rock faces on the Bokkeveld Plateau, at the northern fringes of the Fynbos Biome in South Africa.
Parasthetops porcellus Bilton, 2017
Widespread on the Bokkeveld Plateau, at the northern fringes of the Fynbos Biome in South Africa.
Mesoceration castaneus Bilton, 2017
One male from a stream on the Bokkeveld Plateau, at the northern fringes of the Fynbos Biome in South Africa.
Mesoceration chasmum Bilton, 2017
Found in Oorlogskloof Canyon, on the Bokkeveld Plateau, at the northern fringes of the Fynbos Biome in South Africa.
Mesoceration sabulosum Bilton, 2017
Two steams over sand on the Bokkeveld Plateau, at the northern fringes of the Fynbos Biome in South Africa.
Meladema lepidoptera Bilton & Ribera, 2017
A cryptic sibling of the widespread large diving beetle Meladema coriacea. First detected from DNA sequence data, and subsequently found to differ morphologically as well. Restricted to parts of Italy and the Tuscan Archipelago.
Parhydraena cataracta Bilton, 2018
Semi-terrestrial 'water' beetle from permanently wet plant litter beside a mountain waterfall in the Hex River Mountains, South Africa. Closest relative is endemic to Table Mountain.
Leielmis armipes Bilton, 2018
Riffle beetle from high mountain stream in the Cape Fold Mountains, South Africa.
Mesoceration explanatum Bilton & Mlambo, 2019
Stream-dwelling hydraenid endemic to the Piketberg, an outlying mountain range in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Mesoceration piketbergense Bilton & Mlambo, 2019
Another stream-dwelling hydraenid endemic to the Piketberg, an outlying mountain range in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Agabus austellus Englund, Bilton & Bergsten, 2020
Predacious diving beetle which is relatively widespread in South Africa. The genus Agabus is largely Holarctic, but has invaded the Afrotropical region, where its species are montane or south temperate in occurrence. This was considered the same species as another from mountains associated with the East African Rift system, but is actually a different taxon, endemic to the temperate south of the continent.
Agabus riberae Bilton, Englund & Bergsten, 2020
A semi-cryptic species, close to the previous one, but very distinct genetically. Apparently occurs mostly to the northwest of A. austellusand again endemic to South Africa. Named after out late friend and colleague Ignacio Ribera.
Agabus agulhas Bilton, Englund & Bergsten, 2020
The most southerly member of this mostly Holarctic diving beetle genus in the world. Apparently endemic to wetlands on the Agulhas Plain in the far south of the South African Cape.
Ochthebius mlamboi Bilton, 2021
A coastal rock pool water beetle, widespread but apparently endemic to the Agulhas Current region in South Africa. Missed by previous workers and named after my friend and colleague Dr Musa Mlambo, who helped collect the type series.
Riberazantaena latissima Bilton, 2021
A terrestrial hydraenid 'water' beetle, collected in damp leaf litter in a Tanzanian Eastern Arc Mountain forest. Both the genus and the species are new to science, the genus being named after my friend and colleague Dr Ignacio Ribera, who sadly passed away in 2020. Species name refers to its broad, flat body shape.
Protozantaena birdi Bilton, 2022
Known from the South African Great Escarpment and Western Drakensberg, from stream margins. Closest relative in the Namibian mountains far to the north.
Copelatus mkambati Bilton & Mlambo, 2022
A small-eyed diving beetle which is likely semi-subterranean, being collected from groundwater seepages after heavy rain. Known only from the type locality on the South African Wild Coast; closest relative being in the Congo Basin.
Liodessus meridensis Balke, Bilton, Garcia, Viloria, Villastrigo & Hendrich, 2022
Small diving beetle from high altitude lakes in the Venezuelan Andes.
Liodessus venezuelensis Balke, Bilton, Garcia, Viloria, Villastrigo & Hendrich, 2022
Another small diving beetle from high altitude lakes in the Venezuelan Andes.
Rhithrops capensis Bilton & Shepard, 2022
Deep water river-dwelling beetle from South Africa. Only distantly related to other known species of its family.
Coelometopon riberae Bilton & Mlambo, 2022
Wet rock face dweller from beside a waterfall on the Wild Coast of South Africa, named after our sadly departed colleague Ignacio Ribera, in a special journal issue dedicated to him.
Coelometopon dedzae Bilton, 2023
Another madicolous species, this time from a Malawi mountain.
Hydraena mulanje Bilton, 2023
Terrestrial, forest-litter dwelling 'water' beetle from Malawian mountain forest.
Ochthebius erinaceus Bilton, 2023
Terrestrial, forest-litter dwelling 'water' beetle from Malawian mountain forest. Spiny like a hedgehog!
Hydraena saotometerrestris Bilton, 2023
Terrestrial, forest-litter dwelling 'water' beetle from Sao Tome Island in the Gulf of Guinea. Apparently part of a small adaptive radiation, its closest relative being fully aquatic.
Hydraena turneri Bilton, 2023
Water beetle from Sao Tome Island in the Gulf of Guinea. Apparently part of a small adaptive radiation, its closest relative being terrestrial.
Rhithrodytes pantaleonii Toledo, Bilton, Balke, Shizzerotto & Villastrigo, 2023
A rare find - a species new to science in Europe that was immediately obivous as such when I first saw it in the field! Known from a single stream in SW Sardinia. Split from its closest relative when this area was a separate island in the Miocene. Semisubterranean.
Delevea madiba Bilton & Mlambo, 2023
One of the largest myxophagan water beetles on earth, known from the Oorlogskloof Canyon in Namaqualand. Named in honour of the late, great Nelson Mandela.
Delevea namaqua Bilton & Mlambo, 2023
THE largst myxophagan on earth (at a staggering 2.85 mm!). Known from a single, isolated, seasonal river in arid Namaqualand. Helophorus brumopluvialis Bilton, 2023
There are now six species of this largely north-temperate genus of water beetles known from sub-Saharan Africa, three of which I described in 2023. This one is widespread in the winter rainfall zone of South Africa, replaced by H. aethiops in areas with summer rains. Helophorus nyandaruansis Bilton , 2023
Apparently endemic to montane grasslands in Kenya. Helophorus simiensis Bilton, 2023
Endemic to the Simien Mountains in the northern Ethiopian Highlands. Eupotemus tuberculatus Bilton & Bird, 2023
The first member of this family from southern Africa - found in the Majielesberg north of Johannesberg.

New animals named after me
Armadilloniscus biltoni Taiti & Ferrara, 1989
A terrestrial isopod (woodlouse) found in the entrance to a sea cave on the Togian Islands, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Althepus biltoni Deeleman-Reinhold, 1995
A spider from forests on the Togian Islands, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Neptosternus biltoni Hendrich and Balke, 1997
A small diving beetle from forest streams on one of the Togian Islands, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The adjacent island had a different species, also new to science at the time.
Deronectes biltoni Fery & Hosseinie, 1998
A diving beetle endemic to mountains in northern Iran, close to the Caspian Sea.
Helophorus biltoni Angus, Mahdizadeh & Hosseinie, 2005
A small crawling water beetle endemic to the Zagros Mountains in western Iran, where I first collected it in the late 1990s. It has close relatives on the Golan Heights, and in Spain.
Hydraena biltoni Jach & Diaz-Pazos, 2012
A small water beetle currently known only from a handful of places in central Montenegro. Closely related to the widespread Hydraena morio, which also occurs in the region, but not, so far, in the same localities.
Galicisoma biltoni Mauries, 2015
A winter-active millipede I found back in 1993 in a relict Atlantic oak woodland in Galicia in the far northwest of Spain.
Ochthebius biltoni Jach & Delgado, 2017
A marine rockpool species I found in Sicily a few years ago.
Cercyon biltoni Jia, Liang, Ryndevich & Fikacek, 2019
A forest litter dwelling 'water' beetle from Sichuan, China.

Agraphydrus biltoni Komarek, 2020
A small hydrophilid beetle from stream pools inthe Kamiesberg, Northern Cape, South Africa - a centre of aquatic endemism in a semi-arid region.

Another water beetle and a centipede are currently on their way.

Dr Lucy Kelly . Dispersal, Genetic Differentiation and Community Composition of Insular Stream Invertebrates. (Supervised with Simon Rundle). Awarded 2001.

Dr Louise McAbendroth . Mediterranean Temporary Ponds in the UK: Ecology, Status and Management. (Supervised with Simon Rundle and Andy Foggo ). Awarded 2004.

Dr Punyasloke Bhadury . Molecular resolution of marine nematode biodiversity: Development of a rapid assessment technique. (Supervised with Mel Austin & Gary Smerdon, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and John Lambshead, Natural History Museum, London). Awarded 2006.

Dr Ena Mata-Zayas. The distribution of phylogenetic diversity of mammals in Mexico and its implications for conservation. (Supervised with Miguel Franco). Awarded 2007.

Dr Victor Aguirre-Hidalgo . Demographic and genetic diversity of the Mexican black iguana Ctenosaura pectinata. (Supervised with Miguel Franco). Awarded 2008.

Dr Sonia Fontani . Genetic biodiversity of the European barnacle Chthalamus montagui. (Supervised with John Bishop). Awarded 2009.

Dr Tony Bicknell. Population biology of Leach's storm petrel. (Supervised with Steven Votier and Mairi Knight). Awarded 2011.

Dr Nigel Marley.Biology of Tardigrada. Awarded 2011.

Dr Rebekah Cioffi. Understanding rarity and latitudinal range size relationships in European diving beetles (Dytiscidae) using metabolic plasticity and immunocopmetence. (Supervised with John Moody and Richard Billington). Awarded 2017.

Dr John Thorpe.Biogeography of rocky plateaus in the Western Ghats, India. (Supervised with Mairi Knight). Awarded 2018.

Dr Balbina Ramsay.The ecology and biogeography of tardigrades. (Supervised with Simon Rundle). Awarded 2019.

I am interested in a range of questions related to biogeography, conservation and evolution, particularly using aquatic invertebrates as models. Much of my teaching reflects my research interests, covering topics such as macroecology and biogeography, aquatic conservation, biological species concepts and speciation, and arthropod zoology. I teach on courses to all three undergraduate years, and supervise a range of BSc and MSc/MRes projects.
Stage 1

MBIO123 Biodiversity - Overview of the diversity of life, covering microbes, fungi, algae, plants and animals, plus some material on behaviour. I cover the arthropods - the most important animals on earth.
MBIO120 Introduction to Marine Biology - What it says on the tin. I am heavily involved in field week, and lead field sampling trips to a number of locations in the region. In addition I give a lecture on the 'terrestrial' specialists of the shore.
MBIO123 Marine Biology Field Course - I attend this residential course in Brittany each year, and do some of the taxonomy practicals before we go.
Stage 2

BIOL214 Ecology - An up-to-date exploration of the fundamental principles of population and community ecology. I teach community ecology from a large-scale, or macroecological, perspective, examining the assembly of communities, island biogeography, adaptive radiation, biodiversity and ecosystem function, and asking why most species are rare, and why there are there are more species of organisms in the tropics?
MBIO213 Coastal Biodiversity and Ecology Fieldcourse - An exploration of biodiversity in a coastal setting, currently in one of the World's Biodiversity Hotspots, on the western Cape of South Africa. I attend this residential course each year.
Stage 3
MBIO324 Speciation and Diversity - What is a species? How do new species originate? What generates and maintains the diversity of life? How do we quantify this biodiversity? What are the ecological and evolutionary processes which underpin global patterns in biodiversity? Does biodiversity matter? An up-to-date exploration of the nature and generation of biological diversity, examining model taxa from a wide range of habitats and groups. I co-ordinate this course and teach biological species concepts and speciation.
BIOL304 Global Change Biology - what it says on the tin. Mostly on the causes and consequences of current global change. I deliver three lectures on Quaternary climate change and biological responses to ice ages, to give a wider historical/evolutionary context to ongoing change.
I supervise a range of projects in aquatic biology, ecology and evolution - typically 6-10 students per year.
Module leader for:
MBIO324 Speciation and Diversity
Personal Tutor
For approx.10 students in each year