[1] He was a pupil and friend of several prominent late 19th-early 20th century entomologists, including Horace Donisthorpe and Phillip Harwood.
[2] The apparently high rate of synonymy of his species results from the fact he was primarily dealing with taxonomically difficult groups of beetles.
[6] Since their description, three of the species have been found in other European countries[7] but the rove beetle Aleochara phycophila, a parasitoid of seaweed-flies from the south coast of England, is still known only from the type specimen and has never been recorded again.
A.A. Allen's almost comprehensive collection of British Beetles, including most of his type specimens, was presented to the Natural History Museum, London in October 2010.
The Museum intends to digitally scan the 38 drawers, and make them available as high resolution images on the internet "as a scientific resource, and as a permanent record of A.A. Allen’s immense contribution to the understanding of the British Coleoptera".