Honouring Seppo Koponen on the occasion of this 70th Birthday.

Seppo Koponen was born in Turku, Finland, on November 2, 1944. After graduating from high school, Seppo was admitted to the University of Turku in 1963. He specialised in Ecology and Zoosystematics, and studied also Botany, Genetics, and Geography. He did his M.S. work (1969) on peat bog spiders, and his doctorate research (Phil. Lic. Thesis, 1978), on herbivorous insects living on birch trees in Lapland and Greenland. Seppo’s mentor and supervisor in Arachnology was Pekka T. Lehtinen (see Marusik & Koponen 2014). While studying in the University of Turku, in the late 1960s Seppo worked as an assistant in the Department of Zoology. After his military service, Seppo was appointed a Curator in the Zoological Museum of the University of Turku in 1971, and continued to work there for 40 years, until his retirement in 2011. During his research career, Seppo served as an entomologist for the International Biological Program’s (IBP) "Studies of the tundra biome" at the Kevo Subarctic Research Station (1971–1973). He lectured in Arachnology, Entomology, Animal Ecology, including field courses; he continued to teach Arachnology even after his retirement. He also was a visiting scientist in the Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada, for almost two years (1985, 1990–1991). Seppo’s field records in the North (north of 60°N) is outstanding. He participated in numerous expeditions, to Greenland (1976), several areas of northern Canada (1970-90s), Iceland (1979, 1992), Scotland (1980), Spitzbergen (1980), Alaska (1982), Faroe Islands (1984), many trips to Macaronesia and the Mediterranean. Beginning in 1977, Seppo regularly visited the Soviet Union and, later, Russia. He was an organizer and/or participant of ten expeditions to the Soviet Union/Russia: Yakutia (1977, 2002), Komi (1984, 1992), Kazakhstan (1989), Polar Ural (1994), Tuva (1995), Transbaikalia (1996), Magadan Province (1997) and Primorye Province (1998). In addition, he made many field trips to all Baltic and Scandinavian countries and northwestern parts of Russia (Karelia and Kola Peninsula) for field studies. Seppo has published over 300 research publications dealing with arachnids (mainly spiders) as well as insects (mainly the Lepidoptera of Lapland and Quebec, leaf beetles (Galerucella) and phytophagous insects living on birch (Betula spp.) in the Arctic, and pollinators of cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) in Lapland). Seppo has been,