Widely considered an authority in the field of mayfly study, Edmunds, who died Saturday at 85, traveled the globe from South Africa to New Zealand searching for specimens of the tiny winged creatures.

"He was the reference for the world," said Jan Peters, an entomologist at Florida A&M University who once worked in Edmunds' laboratory.

His massive mayfly collection, the bulk of which is now at Purdue University in Indiana, still produces a steady stream of new species. The horde was so large he did not have time to properly study each mayfly, said Patrick McCafferty, an entomologist at Purdue.

"He's probably left several lifetimes of work to go through it," said McCafferty, another of Edmunds' graduate students.

Arwin Provonsha, curator of entomology at Purdue, said Edmunds' career went beyond his fruitful collection of mayflies.

"He turned out almost all the leading mayfly workers in the field of the past 50 years," said Provonsha, who began working as an illustrator in Edmunds' laboratory as an undergraduate in the 1960s.

Edmunds began his research career at the U. in 1945 and worked on Ephemeroptera, the Latin name for mayfly, until he retired in 1989. In 1992, the seventh International Conference on Ephemeroptera was dedicated to the U. researcher, Peters noted.

His book, The Mayflies of North and Central America, came out in 1976 and stood as the definitive work on the subject in its day, colleagues said.

Edmunds' mayfly research led him to other areas of science, including the theory of continental drift, the idea that continents have moved over the centuries. During his career, continental drift was a hotly debated topic.

But comparing the differences and similarities of mayflies around the globe convinced him that the continents must have touched at some point. Geologists later found further evidence to shore up the theory.

"He made science fascinating," said Peters, who embarked on an entomology career due to Edmunds' influence.

Colleagues say he was an avid hunter who enjoyed waiting in the marshes of the Great Salt Lake for ducks. He was also known for his stories, which often switched between his world travels and hunting and fishing expeditions.

But he will be most remembered for his lasting influence on the field of mayfly research. Through the years, colleagues have named new mayfly species, as well as a beetle and crane fly, in his honor.

Richard Baumann, insect curator at Brigham Young University's ML Bean Museum and a former Edmunds student, named a stonefly for his mentor.

"He was kind of like an uncle to me," said Baumann, who had kept in touch with Edmunds over the years.

Steven Jensen, a scientist who recently retired from Missouri State University and was an illustrator and grad student of Edmunds, said "he was the worldwide authority on mayflies."

glavine@sltrib.com