Alexandre Arsène Girault

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Alexandre Arsène Girault, around 1904

Alexandre Arsène Girault (born January 9, 1884 in Annapolis , Maryland ; died May 2, 1941 in Dunwich , Queensland ) was an American entomologist and parasitologist . With more than 3,000 initial descriptions of genera and species and a large number of entomological publications, he was one of the most important experts on the taxonomy of the wasps (Chalcidoidea). In addition, he researched to a lesser extent on fringed winged birds and soft bugs .

Although Girault's publications were largely self-published and no longer meet today's scientific standards in their superficiality, many of the taxa he describes are valid. In his publications and in dealing with colleagues and superiors, Girault showed an eccentric nature, great lust for argument, attitudes shaped by prejudices. His behavior towards his colleagues and his extensive work in non-professional fields repeatedly caused him great problems. Girault suffered from depression and delusions after the death of his wife and the loss of his job. He spent the last two years of his life mostly in homes.

family

Alexandre Arsène Girault with his family, April 1924
Resident of the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum in front of his tent

Alexandre Arsène Girault was born in Annapolis , Maryland to a long-established French family. His grandfather Arsène Napoléon Alexandre Girault de San Fargeau was a French teacher on the first faculty of the United States Naval Academy , founded in 1845 , was promoted to the rank of Professor of Mathematics in 1848 (like all teachers, regardless of the subject taught) and headed the French department until 1866 of the Naval Academy. Girault's father, Joseph Bonaparte Girault, and his mother, Elizabeth Frances Goosdwin Girault, co-founded a Presbyterian parish in Annapolis.

In January 1913 Girault married Elizabeth Jeanette Pilcher, a 21-year-old teacher from Gordonvale , Queensland , where he was working at the time. Best man was Girault's young assistant, Alan Parkhurst Dodd . The Giraults' first child was born in November 1913 and the fifth in 1925. The family had to move several times after returning from the United States in 1919, and always suffered economic difficulties because of Girault's precarious employment. Elizabeth Girault fell ill with tuberculosis soon after returning to Australia and died in September 1931.

In July 1939, after disputes with neighbors, a police operation took place because of Girault's aggressive behavior. He was first admitted to a psychiatric clinic, but after a few months he was released into the care of his children. In 1940 he was again admitted to the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum in Dunwich , an accommodation facility for the mentally ill and old people's home. There he spent the last year of his life. At first he was housed in a dormitory, but was eventually granted the privilege of a tent with adequate privacy. The surviving correspondence with the Queensland Museum shows his continued interest in the scientific work and in his most recent publications, but also suggests an increasing physical and mental decline. Girault died in Dunwich Benevolent Asylum in early May 1941 .

Career

Muscidifurax raptor Girault & Sanders , 1910 (laying eggs in the pupa of a fly )

Studies and first years in Illinois (1903 to 1911)

Girault studied at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated there in 1903 with a Bachelor of Science . This was not followed by long-term jobs as a math teacher and as a chemist in a shipyard in Sparrows Point , Maryland. In 1904 he joined the US Department of Agriculture and worked under the direction of Altus Lacy Quaintance in the field of agricultural entomology. His tasks included researching the North American plum weevil ( Conotrachelus nenuphar ), the Colorado potato beetle ( Leptinotarsa ​​decemlineata ) and the peach-winged glass winged wing ( Synanthedon pictipes ). In 1908 Girault went to Illinois as an assistant to the State Entomologist and in 1909 as an assistant to the University of Illinois . There he dealt with stored food pests , the Colorado potato beetle and bed bugs , but also developed his interest in the ore wasps . Together with his colleague George E. Sanders , he wrote the first description of Muscidifurax raptor and several essays on its ecology. It was one of the few early works by Girault that came about in collaboration with colleagues.

Nelson, Queensland, Australia (1911-1914)

In Queensland , Australia , an important sugar cane cultivation had developed, which was increasingly affected by pests from 1890 onwards. The dramatic situation led to the passage of the Sugar Experimental Stations Act in 1900 , which established an authority and three research stations to research and control sugar cane pests. One of the research stations was in Nelson, now Gordonvale , in northern Queensland. In March 1911, the situation was so dire that the Queensland government asked the US Department of Agriculture for the recommendation of a qualified entomologist to work at one of the research stations. The salary was low and the desired qualifications in entomology , mycology and plant diseases were out of all proportion. The head of the Bureau of Entomology , Leland Ossian Howard , finally recommended Girault as a young and committed scientist who had already dealt with the parasites of plant pests.

Girault arrived in Australia in October 1911. Until 1914 he worked mostly in the research facility in Nelson, but also did field research in other parts of Queensland. His task was to research sugar cane pests such as various scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae), whose larval stages ate the roots of the plants. Of particular interest were the natural enemies of the beetles and their larvae, such as parasitoid wasps and their relatives. The research of the Australian wood wasp fauna, which had not yet been thoroughly examined, and its systematic recording took up a large part of his time, including his free time. Just a few weeks after his arrival, Girault was negotiating with Ronald Hamlyn-Harris , director of the Queensland Museum , about the publication of his work on the taxonomy of Australian spiders and insects. This resulted in a correspondence that lasted almost three decades until Girault's death and a longstanding collaboration with Hamlyn-Harris and his successors. His taxonomic studies on wasps interested Girault far more than the sugar cane pests. Since he saw no opportunity in Australia to research according to his ideas, he resigned his employment on August 30, 1914, but informed his employer as early as August 1913 of his intentions.

National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (1914-1917)

William Harris Ashmead (1855-1908)

In January 1915, Girault and his family arrived in Washington, DC. Until 1917 Girault worked for the Bureau of Entomology, an institution of the US Department of Agriculture. The workplace was in the rooms of the National Museum of Natural History, where he worked on the processing of the ore wasps in the collection. In the context of World War I , research funding was severely restricted and the Bureau of Entomology, a department of the Department of Agriculture, was expected to invest its scarce resources in researching and combating agricultural pests. A noticeable restriction for the extremely productive Girault was the requirement that all employees of the Bureau of Entomology not publish more than one scientific paper per month. In addition, he was required to keep his publications on taxonomy related to agricultural entomology, i.e. to treat beneficial insects and pests.

Girault was extremely dissatisfied with the working conditions there. He felt annoyed by the presence of a few colleagues who were causing constant unrest in his already cramped workplace with conversations and laughter. He described Washington, that is, his working environment there, as a “madhouse” in which scientific work was impossible. In addition, Girault sharply criticized the condition of the collection and the technical competence of one of his predecessors, William Harris Ashmead, who died in 1908 . One of his most violent attacks against colleagues concerned his time in Washington and was directed against Ashmead, who had died twenty years earlier in 1929:

"False Captain! Ah! dark Error's pioneer,
Enthusiastic dunce and shamming seer,
Aching for a days applause;
Low scholar ever wishing us to laud
Ambition's wind-blown froth and sandy fraud,
Thus defying Heaven's laws.

Arise! Come, get thee from thy shelt'ring grave
Where, strongly walled, e'en thou couldst dare be brave
With Impunity's gaunt grace!
Ah, come, past coward, lily-livered liar,
Fair-tongued sweetmouthing unctious friar
Let's see what's writ across thy face! "

- Alexandre A. Girault : North American Hymenoptera Mymaridae, 1929
Leland Ossian Howard (1857-1950)

While Girault never had contact with Ashmead, he was personally known to Leland Ossian Howard as direct superior, director of the Bureau of Entomology and chairman of the Entomological Society of Washington . As one of the leading exponents of the commercial exploitation of entomology and biological pest control, Howard embodied the opposite of Girault's ideal of research. Accordingly, he expressed himself in 1917 in one of his first self-published publications:

" The Entomologist
Didst think that I like those poor others could be sold?
My soul a slave to thee? 'Twas this no less!

Who taught the Fool truth could be bartered for gain?
Thou art lost, thy own high soul is lost, died
The day that for paltry things thy heart was slain- "

- Alexandre A. Girault : Chalcidoidea Nova Marilandensis III., 1917

The situation at the National Museum of Natural History was unbearable for Girault, and Girault must have been unbearable for all of his colleagues and superiors, especially Howard. In mid-1916 Girault made the decision to leave the United States. In 1917 the employment relationship was terminated and Girault went to Australia forever. The conflicts in Washington, Girault's anti-Americanism developed between 1914 and 1917, and his critical attitude towards the economy and various developments in politics and society continued to have an effect for many years and were repeatedly taken up in his pamphlets. Girault went to the United States in 1914 as a sociable young scientist full of optimism and returned three years later as a bitter and contentious man.

Meringa Sugar Experiment Station, Gordonvale (1917-1919)

Meringa Sugar Experiment Station , Gordonvale , Queensland , circa 1935

The crossing to Australia was overshadowed by the loss of a piece of freight in which Girault had abandoned his specialist literature and entomological work material in addition to manuscripts. A new acquisition was not possible because of his tight financial situation and the resulting impairment of his taxonomic work lasted for several years. In Australia, Girault became an employee of the Queensland Department of Agriculture. He began to work in the newly built Meringa Sugar Experiment Station , into which his old place of work had merged. However, the position of director was now occupied by James Franklin Illingworth , also an American entomologist who was previously a professor at the College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in Hawaii . Girault was only employed as his assistant, and based on the experience gained during his tenure from 1911 to 1914, Illingworth was advised to ensure that Girault was concerned with his actual duties rather than taxonomy. Girault could only carry out his taxonomic studies in his spare time. Within a few months there was a violent argument with Illingworth. In early 1919 Girault was suspended from duty because he repeatedly failed to show up for work. He justified himself by saying that he went on strike over a "rough" speech by Illingworth. After further disputes, in which the administration of the research station was involved, Girault was released in May 1919.

Altus Lacy Quaintance (1870-1858)

Girault also found opportunities to continue his attacks on colleagues in Australia. One of those attacked was Altus Lacy Quaintance , one of the founders of the commercial exploitation of entomology, employee of the Bureau of Entomology and member, president of the Entomological Society of Washington and from 1904 to 1908 Girault's superior. The first and last stanzas of his poem, A Song based on the tune of Auld Lang Syne about a prominent economic entomologist (who sacrificed the insects of the economy) called Quaintance by name:

"Should AL Quaintance be forgot
And other childish men
Who their first love let go to pot
That they might fatten."

- Alexandre A. Girault : Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea Nova Australiensis, 1919

These public attacks on the leading figures in entomology were an outlet for Girault to vent his anger. But they also disqualified him for many activities in the research area shaped by personalities such as Howard and Quaintance.

Odd jobs (1919 to 1923)

Microscopitis, Womanitis and New Hexapoda , 1923

In May 1919 Girault moved with his family, meanwhile three children had been born, to Brassall, now a district of Ipswich City , and tried unsuccessfully in poultry farming. In November 1919 he moved to Wyllum, a borough of Brisbane , and opened a fruit and vegetable shop. This venture had already failed in the early autumn of 1920 and Girault opened a third shop. The plight of his family forced Girault to accept a job as a helper in the campaign to eradicate the hookworms . He examined stool samples under the microscope for hookworms and their stages of development, and blood samples for plasmodia and filariae . In 1923, in his publication Microscopitis, Womanitis and New Hexapods, he provided a cryptic description of the torments that this subordinate activity caused him.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (1923-1935)

In February 1923 Girault was hired again as an entomologist at the Ministry of Agriculture. Although he never returned to the United States, Girault never gave up his US citizenship. As a foreigner, he could only be hired by an Australian authority for a limited period of time for a few months or for a maximum of one year. In a time of great unemployment, after the global economic crisis had also covers Australia, that meant permanent for Girault existential threat. Girault worked in Brisbane, but was posted on field research across the state of Queensland. Girault was employed in the Queensland Department of Agriculture until the end of June 1935, and the reasons for his resignation are unknown.

Last years (1935 to 1937)

In the following time Girault earned his living doing odd jobs , at times as a worker in a quarry in Indooroopilly and building roads, or lived on unemployment benefits. With the help of his last manager at the Department of Agriculture, Girault was able to obtain funding from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). These funds enabled him to work on the Synopsis of Australian Chalcidoidea , initially limited to three months and extended several times , in collaboration with the Queensland Museum and under its supervision. With the completion of this work in June 1937 Girault's scientific career ended.

Researches

Girault's research focused on the North American and Australian Hymenoptera , especially the wasps (Chalcidoidea). In addition, he dealt to a small extent with fringed winged birds (Thysanoptera) and soft bugs (Miridae), without having achieved any outstanding performance in these areas. Only at the beginning of his scientific career, as an entomologist at the University of Illinois , did he publish several papers with George E. Sanders and other colleagues. For the next 30 years he worked and published alone and was unable to collaborate with others. His disrespect for the work of others and the interests of future researchers went so far that he thoughtlessly destroyed type material of species in order to study an inaccessible anatomical feature in which he was currently interested.

Hymenoptera

Posterity remembered Girault primarily as the person who worked on the system of the wasps . Girault wrote the first descriptions of about 3,000 genera and species of the wasps, plus some other wasps. Recent reviews of his taxonomic work have shown the validity of many of his taxa. The enormous number of species described by Girault aroused early criticism from his contemporaries. Then turned Walter Wilson Froggatt , an entomologist at the Ministry of Agriculture of New South Wales , 1915 Ronald Hamlyn-Harris . Believing that the Queensland Museum had bought the types for the numerous small, parasitoid wasps described by Girault and Dodd , Froggatt criticized the description of countless species and genera based on a single specimen and because of less inconspicuous characteristics.

In 1921, the Spanish entomologist Ricardo García Mercet noticed that Girault had described more species in just over ten years of scientific work than his colleagues William Harris Ashmead and Leland Ossian Howard combined in three decades. Mercet also noted that Girault's initial descriptions were superficial and very concise. In many cases, Girault described genera according to characteristics that were not even suitable for delimiting species. The complete lack of accompanying drawings or photographs made the recognition of Girault's genera and species even more difficult, and Mercet wanted more care for Girault's work.

Girault's superficial work primarily concerned his self-published work, which was not subjected to any independent professional review and usually only used two to five lines to describe a genus or species. Girault's publications in specialist journals also suffered from serious shortcomings: the general lack of illustrations, the small number of specimens examined, the inadequate indication of the sites and the use of unsuitable morphological features to delimit the taxa described.

Fringed winged bugs and soft bugs

Musgraveia sulciventris

In 1924 Girault was transferred to Gympie for a few months , where he investigated the ecology of the fringed winged Chaetanaphothrips signipennis , which was a pest on banana plants. Further investigations concerned the bug Musgraveia sulciventris , which caused great damage in Australian citrus plantations. Girault published extensive studies on both pests in the bulletin of the Ministry of Agriculture, and he found his way into a new field of activity. Without restricting his work on the wasps, Girault began with publications on the systematics of the fringed winged birds.

While Girault's early studies on bed bugs produced solid scientific findings, his later studies on soft bugs (Miridae) were particularly affected by his unclean way of working. In many cases, he described finds as new species that an expert on bedbugs would have correctly assigned to species already described and which were later recognized as synonyms. The superficiality of his diagnoses, the lack of drawings, and the loss of types often mean that Girault's species cannot be reliably identified.

Types

Most of the types from Girault's time in the United States are in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC The types from his work in Australia are in the collection of the Queensland Museum. The economic hardship and his inability to work in a structured manner prompted Girault to assemble his types, often of several non-closely related types, sometimes from different families or orders, on a slide . That made working with the collection extremely difficult. Decades after Girault's death, the collection was viewed and re-sorted. The collection was arranged alphabetically according to the names of the genres, without destroying the traditional context. For this purpose, microscope slides were inserted for numerous types in their proper place, which merely contained a cross-reference to the actual place of accommodation.

Girault's collection material contains types that are only named in Girault's posthumous manuscript and have never been published. This means that these are not available names; the associated types would have to be redefined and, if necessary, published as valid.

The processing of Girault's scientific work, which was fraught with many deficits, took decades and included the publication of a chronological bibliography of his 462 publications, including the self-published writings, and a list of more than 500 type locations with associated overview maps in 1978. This was followed by three by 1986 Partial volumes with checklists of the types for the genera and species described by Girault. The work was done by Edward Clive Dahms as part of his doctoral thesis. In 1997 Dahms and Gordon Gordh published a checklist of the genera of Australian Encyrtidae described by Girault and their species.

Publications

Girault's publications comprise 462 publications in the period from 1901 to 1942, of which 63 were self-published. There are also nine works written between 1905 and 1915 with other authors. In December 1901 Girault's first article appeared in the Entomological News , on the number of eggs in the cocoons of the forest pest Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis . His second publication, in December 1903, was a (now synonymous ) first description .

Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea

Girault's most important published work is his monograph Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea , which appeared in numerous parts in the Memoirs of the Queensland Museum from 1912 to 1915 and comprises a total of more than 900 pages . Even before the first part was published, the editor, Ronald Hamlyn-Harris , asked Girault to renounce his extravagant dedications to newly described species and his comments on economics and politics. Girault refused and Hamlyn-Harris felt bound by his promise to publish it. However, he added an editorial note to the work, in which the editors distanced themselves from the comments. The consequence of the publication feared by Hamlyn-Harris nevertheless occurred. The Australian entomologist Alfred Jefferis Turner , who had previously published work in the Queensland Museum's magazine, announced a work whose new species would be named after popes. He will write a note on each of these species, condemning a certain heresy, and preface the whole thing with an introduction in which he describes the universe from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church in enigmatic and difficult to understand formulations. The conflict was resolved when Hamlyn-Harris Turner promised that the disputed dedications would no longer be published. In the following publications by Girault in this journal, the explanations of the dedication names were omitted.

Ronald Hamlyn-Harris had only been director of the Queensland Museum since 1910. The Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea were an important element in Hamlyn-Harris' plans to make his museum magazine an internationally recognized specialist medium. Nevertheless, the magazine was subject to restrictions on its size for economic reasons. In the first four volumes of the new Memoirs of the Queensland Museum , Girault clearly exceeded the restrictions placed on him on the length of his contributions. For the fourth year in 1915, he even had to contribute to the printing costs with an amount that corresponded to several monthly salaries and actually exceeded his possibilities.

Journal articles

While working on the Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea , Girault published numerous initial descriptions in specialist journals, mostly in the United States and Europe. It was his intention that these initial descriptions should appear first and that only summaries should be published in the monograph that was published at the same time. Since the timing was beyond his control, it happened again and again that his summaries appeared before the first description and, according to the letters of the then valid International Rules for Zoological Nomenclature, are considered to be the first descriptions. The confusion this creates is part of the problems later taxonomists have with Girault's initial descriptions.

While in Washington, Girault began to openly criticize the commercialization of entomology in his papers. The Chalcidoidea interested him not primarily as a living being with economic importance, but because of their very existence. Girault was outraged when the editor of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society arbitrarily changed his article title New Chalcid-flies of Malaya to New chalcid parasites from Malaya . The theme accompanied him for many years, and some of his 1925 published until 1933 self-published writings took with titles like New Queensland Insecta Captured Without Any Reference to Use or Some beauties inhabitant not of commercial boudoirs but of nature's bosom, notably new insects on the lack of economic benefit related to the treated wasps.

When Girault returned to Australia in 1919, the opportunities to publish scientific papers were severely limited. While Ronald Hamlyn-Harris had supported him as much as he could and accepted and published numerous excessively long manuscripts, the economic problems during and after the First World War forced the magazines and their editors to make savings. Hamlyn-Harris had been replaced in 1918 by Heber Albert Longman as director of the Queensland Museum and editor of the memoirs , and Longman was less open to Girault. For the period after 1919, the entomological journal Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus by the American entomologist Harrison Gray Dyar Girault became the most important medium. In addition, his articles appeared in magazines around the world, mostly only sporadically. The difficulties in placing his publications in magazines accompanied Girault until the end of his life and were only partly due to his irrelevant comments. You were one of the reasons for his decision to self-publish. Girault's last work appeared in the Ohio Journal of Science , the Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina, and in the journal of a natural history association, the Queensland Naturalist .

Self-published

Girault used his publications in professional journals to a large extent for non-subject comments. Again and again he tried to spread his criticism of colleagues or disputes at work in front of the professional world. In the end, he was denied that, in that the journals in question limited the number of his articles, edited offensive passages or stopped printing his articles at all. As an alternative, albeit to a limited extent for economic reasons, Girault had his pamphlets and initial descriptions printed privately, and emphatically lamented the harassment of the publishers of magazines. From 1917 to 1937 63 self-published publications were created, the titles of which often indicated the quality of the content. Although the criticism of Girault's remarks far outweighs and mostly questions his state of mind, there are also other voices. The Australian entomologist Edward Clive Dahms has created an extensive checklist of the types for Girault's genera and species, which he prefixed with a biography, a bibliography and a list of the type locations. While working on this work, he also had access to Girault's personnel file in the Queensland Department of Agriculture and an extensive collection of family-owned letters. Dahms sees in Girault's failures often the reaction of someone obsessed with his work to the rejection, which is felt to be unjustified, and neither an indication of mental illness nor the reason for subsequent rejection.

Girault commented on general questions of politics, economy and trade and women's rights, but also on the state of entomological research, the decline of taxonomy and the gain of knowledge as the only legitimate task of science. He was formally obsessed with his devastating criticism of the economic exploitation of entomology, namely its focus on studying insects, which can cause disease or economic damage, and their natural enemies. In this area he repeatedly attacked colleagues, which was indirectly a consequence of his professional activity in this deeply detested branch of entomology. The style of his utterances of this kind has changed dramatically. Sometimes he attacked his colleagues with lengthy poems or developed elaborate depictions full of bon mots and hidden malice. In other places Girault limited himself to nasty insults, the aim of which, politicians or colleagues, sometimes only opened up to the initiated. In their entirety, Girault's publications provide the image of an outstanding expert in his field, while his self-published writings from 1917 reveal an opinionated and increasingly bitter man.

Polemical excursions

Girault's self-published publications were mostly only one or a few pages long strings of initial descriptions of new genera or species. They were always preceded or inserted in unrestrained attacks against colleagues or other irrelevant statements, which were clearly the main purpose of the publication. In two cases, Girault published the first descriptions of fictional species, a wasp and a human, amidst his serious scientific contributions:

  • Shillingsworthia shillingsworthi is a sarcastic description of his former superior James Franklin Illingworth , published in October 1920 in his publication Some Insects never before seen by Mankind : Like polynema , but the petiolus , head, abdomen and mandibles are missing. S. shillingsworthi, empty, devoid of content and indefinite. Remarkably futile, only visible from certain angles. Shadowless. A fragile species whose flight can only be followed by the winged spirit. From a bare abyss on Jupiter, August 5th, 1919. This delicate genus is Dr. Dedicated to Johann Francis Illingworth [sic], who is distinguished by his selfless commitment to entomology. He not only sacrifices all the comforts of life, but also his health and his reputation in the uncompromising search for truth and love for the delicate creatures of the air. Honor him! . Immediately beforehand were the first descriptions of the species Neocasca shillingsworthi , today Bardylis shillingsworthi ( Girault , 1920), which he named explicitly after Illingworth, the genus Richteria and the species Ormyrus langlandi .
  • Homo perniciosus is a second fictional species that Girault depicted in his April 1924 work Homo Perniciosus and New Hymenoptera . His description, like many of his utterances, appears to be aggressively directed against the feminist ideal of the New Woman : Homo perniciosus has been described as follows, and this description is here confirmed: abnormal female individual (loveless and without offspring); Heart without function; Breasts hidden; Psyche novel (as expected) but artificial; happy, multicolored, wild; Contours lovely like those of a woman, but of a tough nature (selfish, thoughtless, proud, without compassion, irresponsible, aggressively disturbing, insensitive, luxury and contentious, hyperactive, demanding, bad, predatory and even carnivorous, contradicting, unfriendly, immodest, critical, challenging, toxic); Unstable behavior (up to betrayal), pinched face, strong physique. Found everywhere, but rare in natural habitats. After young adults, here they are most common, 1923, Australia . This tirade was unusually violent even by Girault's standards, but it was not an expression of a fundamental misogyny . It is reported by Girault that he treated women who corresponded to the traditional image of women, as well as his wife, with great respect. As with other pamphlets, the one and a half page account of the "New Woman" was followed by two and a half pages with a dozen initial descriptions of genera and species as well as some corrections to earlier publications.

The subject of the “new woman”, in his understanding of the working woman, has occupied Girault for years. In his Hymenoptera Minutae Nova Australiensis , published in January 1926, the first description of Mozartella beethoveni was followed by a sentence: Homo pernicolosus Girault. This stray cosmopolitan was spawned by the modern economy, which is certainly the cause of more than one perversion. In 1928 he wrote in the introductory one and a half pages of Some Insecta and a New All Highness (Notes compiled in fear and sorrow) : A revolution has taken hold of nature. The woman - Homo perniciosus - has occupied her earthly throne and is now our royal despot, the Most High Majesty, to whom all (men) must bow. Here, too, a number of initial scientific descriptions follow.

Scientific recognition

Girault's failures prevented his scientific achievements from being recognized during his lifetime and in the first few years after his death. His self-published pamphlets were not included in their holdings by the libraries. This also happened because their titles were no indication of the content that was significant for zoology. Not one library, including that of the Queensland Museum or the Australian National Insect Collection , has a complete collection of these publications. Rather, it must be assumed that some of these writings are unknown and lost forever.

The validity of hundreds of the genera and species described in Girault's self-published publications and the other taxonomically relevant decisions had been controversial for decades. As early as 1923, entomologists Arthur B. Gahan and Margaret M. Fagan of the National Museum of Natural History disputed the view that, despite the questionable circumstances of their publication, there was insufficient reason to reject the names made available by Girault. It was and is customary for initial descriptions to be published in zoological journals. The Zoological Record , published by the Zoological Society of London , was not only a zoological bibliography but also a directory of the newly described taxa. The species described by Girault in his self-published writings were only listed in exceptional cases in the Zoological Record . The authoritative Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930 , published by Australian entomologist Anthony Musgrave in 1932, also ignored Girult's publications as non-scientific. Other catalogs, such as the Nomenclator Zoologicus published in five volumes by Sheffield Airey Neave from 1939 to 1950 , contained Girault's private publications, with which the names of the research became known, but did not list some genres.

Girault's first descriptions were a burden for the small community of wasp wasp researchers, less because of Girault's accusations to colleagues, but because of their large number, the inadequate diagnoses of only a few lines in length and because of numerous contradictions. In 1961 the Argentine entomologist Luis De Santos published a list of the 63 self-published papers by Girault between March 1917 and November 1937 and the names made available by the more than 1,000 first descriptions or renaming of genera and species:

Higher taxon Genera Subgenera species Subspecies Varieties
Wasps 127 1 733 14th 5
Gall wasp-like 2 24
Wasp-like 1 25th
Chrysidoidea 4th
Parasitic wasps 1 14th 1
Terebrantia ( fringed winged wing ) 1 63 2
Tubulifera (fringed winged wing ) 1 68
Soft bugs 8th
total 133 1 939 17th 5

Formally, it would have been possible for the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to declare each and every one of the names Girault self-published as invalid . However, this route was not taken because it was feared that it would have devastating consequences for the taxonomy of the wasps, with hundreds of taxa for which types and later scientific publications existed and which would then not have a valid name. Instead, the private publications, Giraults, which until then were only accessible to a small group of specialists, were reissued in 1979 in an edition of the Memoirs of the American Entomological Society and thus made available to all interested parties. There is consensus that Girault's self-published publications were valid publications in accordance with the International Rules on Zoological Nomenclature . With this Girault was rehabilitated for science, and his extravagant side comments downgraded to original but irrelevant utterances of an eccentric.

Synopsis of Australian Chalcidoidea

Girault had already started work on his life's work in 1917, his never published Synopsis of Australian Chalcidoidea . After he was no longer employed by the Queensland Department of Agriculture in June 1935, he was able to continue his work at the plant until June 1937 with the help of grants from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). One of the eligibility conditions was the handover of the manuscript to the Queensland Museum. The complete works were never published. The 2,483 manuscript pages, weighing 37 pounds, are now in the Australian National Insect Collection , with a copy in the Queensland Museum. As with the Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea , published from 1912 to 1915 , Girault had often lost track of things. His self-published first descriptions of two to five lines in length in the 1920s and 1930s often found more extensive equivalents in the manuscript, and many types from Girault's collection were only described in the manuscript and never published.

Dedication names (selection)

Some of the species named after Girault were secondary homonyms that were created by synonymizing genera. In these cases, a new name must be specified for the type described later. It is a tradition to name the species after the original author.

First descriptions by Alexandre Arsène Girault (selection)

Publications (selection)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , p. 130.
  2. ^ A b c Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 137-139.
  3. ↑ a b c d Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 147–153.
  4. ↑ a b c Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 153–157.
  5. ^ A b c Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 157-160.
  6. ^ A b c Marjorie C. Townes: AA Girault and His Privately Printed Papers . In: The Great Lakes Entomologist 1972, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 129-132, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fscholar.valpo.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1216%26context%3Dtgle~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D .
  7. ↑ a b John L. Capinera (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Entomology. Second edition . Lemma Girault, Alexandre Arsène , p. 1621. Springer, Dordrecht et al. a. 2008, ISBN 978-1-4020-6242-1 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 131-134.
  9. ^ A b Beverley M. Angus, Lester RG Cannon and Robert D. Adlard: Parasitology and the Queensland Museum , pp. 8–9.
  10. ^ A b Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 140-141.
  11. ↑ a b c d Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 142–147.
  12. ↑ a b Alexandre A. Girault: Descriptiones Hymenopterorum Chalcidoidicarum Variorum cum Observationibus V. Self-published, Glenndale, Maryland 1917.
  13. ↑ a b c Alexandre A. Girault: Chalcidoidea Nova Marilandensis III. Self-published, Glenndale, Maryland 1917.
  14. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: North American Hymenoptera Mymaridae , 1929.
  15. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea Nova Australiensis , 1919.
  16. ^ A b Beverley M. Angus, Lester RG Cannon and Robert D. Adlard: Parasitology and the Queensland Museum , pp. 73-75.
  17. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: Microscopitis, Womanitis and New Hexapods , Sydney 1923.
  18. ^ A b Carl Frederick William Muesebeck: Alexandre Arsene Girault . In: Annals of the Entomological Society of America 1942, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 122-123, doi : 10.1093 / aesa / 35.1.114 .
  19. ^ Ricardo García Mercet : Fauna Ibérica. Himenopteros. Fam. Encírtidos . Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid 1921, pp. 40–41, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dfaunaibrica00merc~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn56~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
  20. ↑ a b Luis De Santis: Las publicaciones entomologicas privadas de Arsene A. Girault .
  21. ↑ José CM Carvalho: Concerning the types of Miridae described by AA Girault (Hemiptera) . In: Revista Brasileira de Biologia 1974, Volume 34, No. 1, pp. 43-44, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fresearch.amnh.org%2Fpbi%2Flibrary%2F1447.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~doppelseiten% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D .
  22. ↑ a b c Arthur B. Gahan and Margaret M. Fagan : The type species of the genera of Chalcidoidea or Chalcid-flies . Bulletin of the United States National Museum 124. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 1923, p. 3, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dbulletinunitedst1241923unit~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn17~doppelseiten%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
  23. ^ Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , p. 128.
  24. ^ A b Ian D. Naumann et al .: Type specimens of Australian Hymenoptera (Insecta) transferred from the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney, to the Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra . In: Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1994, Volume 114, No. 2, pp. 69-72, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dproceedingsoflin114linn~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn81~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D .
  25. ^ Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , p. 127.
  26. ↑ Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 161-174.
  27. ^ Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , pp. 136-137.
  28. ^ A b Edward Clive Dahms: A checklist I , p. 129.
  29. ↑ a b c d Michael Ohl: The art of naming. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2015, pp. 263-296, ISBN 978-3-95757-089-5 . English: The Art of Naming. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 2018, ISBN 978-0-262-03776-1 .
  30. ↑ a b c Alexandre A. Girault: Some Insects never before seen by Mankind , 1920.
  31. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: Homo Perniciosus and New Hymenoptera , 1924.
  32. ↑ a b c Alexandre A. Girault: Hymenoptera Minutae Nova Australiensis , 1926.
  33. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: Some Insecta and a New All Highness (Notes compiled in fear and sorrow) , 1928.
  34. ^ A b c Arthur W. Parrott: A Note on Whether AA Girault's Privately Printed Leaflets are Scientific Publications in a Technical Sense .
  35. ↑ Mohammad Hayat: Description of a new species of Centrodora Foerster with notes on some other aphelinids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) . In: Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologische Gesellschaft 1987, Volume 60, No. 3–4, pp. 319–323, doi : 10.5169 / seals-402280 .
  36. ↑ Mohammad Iqbal: Systematics and phylogeny of the Baeini (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), with special reference to Australasian fauna . Ph.D. thesis, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 1999, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fdigital.library.adelaide.edu.au%2Fdspace%2Fhandle%2F2440%2F19375~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D .
  37. ↑ Wladimir A. Trjapitzin : Notes on the genus Cheiloneurus Westwood, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) with redescription of Ch. Marilandia (Girault, 1917) from USA . In: Russian Entomological Journal 2002, Volume 11, No. 3, pp. 301-303, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fzmmu.msu.ru%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Fspec%2FRuss%2520Ent%2520J%2Fent11_3%2520301_303%2520Trjapitzin.pdf~GB%3D .~IA% MDZ% ​​3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D .
  38. ↑ Vladimir A. Trjapitzin: A synopsis of the genus Cheiloneurus Westwood, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) of the New World . In: Russian Entomological Journal 2005, Volume 13, No. 4, pp. 257-266, here p. 261.
  39. ^ Oswald Peck: Superfamily Chalcidoidea . In: Carl Frederick William Muesebeck, Karl V. Krombein and Henry K. Townes: Hymenoptera of America North of Mexico. Synoptic Catalog . United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Monograph No. 2. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 1951, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhm.ac.uk%2Fresources%2Fresearch-curation%2Fprojects%2Fchalcidoids%2Fpdf_X%2FPeck951.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ% 3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D
  40. ↑ Zoja Jefremowa and Irina S. Strachowa: New species of Elasmus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from Vietnam . In: Oriental Insects 2009, Volume 43, pp. 277, 279, doi : 10.1080 / 00305316.2009.10417589 .
  41. ^ Zdenek Bouček: Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). A biosystematic revision of a genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species . CAB International, Wallingford 1988, pp. 94ff, ISBN 0-85198-607-2 .
  42. ↑ John S. Noyes and James B. Woolley : North American encyrtid fauna (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae): taxonomic changes and new taxa . In: Journal of Natural History 1994, Volume 28, No. 6, pp. 1327-1401, doi : 10.1080 / 00222939400770681 .
  43. ↑ D. Christopher Darling and John H. Werren: Biosystematics of Nasonia (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae): two new species reared from birds' nests in North America . In: Annals of the Entomological Society of America 1990, Vol. 83, No. 3, pp. 352-370, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2F www.sas.rochester.edu%2Fbio%2Flabs%2FWerrenLab%2FWerrenPapers-PDF%2F1990_Darling_Werr_Biosystem_Bird%~27sNests.pdfIA~%3~27sNests.pdfIA~% 3 3D% 0A ~ SZ% 3D ~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D .
  44. ^ BR Subba Rao : Redescriptions of Plutarchia Girault and Axanthosoma Girault with the description of a new species of Plutarchia from Nigeria (Eurytomidae: Hymenoptera) . In: Journal of Entomology Series B 1974, Volume 42, No. 2, pp. 199-206, doi : 10.1111 / j.1365-3113.1974.tb00075.x .
  45. ↑ Il-kwon Kim et al .: Taxonomy, biology, and efficacy of two Australian parasitoids of the eucalyptus gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa Fisher & La Salle (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) . In: Zootaxa 2008, Volume 1910, pp. 1-20, digitizedhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fmapress.com%2Fzootaxa%2F2008%2Ff%2Fzt01910p020.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D .
  46. ↑ a b Jordi Paretas-Martínez and Juli Pujade-Villar: Charipinae (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) from Australia: revision of the genus Thoreauana Girault, 1930 and description of Dilapothor n. Gen. In: Australian Journal of Entomology 2006, Volume 45, p 219-226, doi : 10.1111 / j.1440-6055.2006.00536.x .
  47. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: New naturals unorthodoxies and non-pollutions viz new hexapods , 1937.
  48. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: Chalcididae, Capsidae species nova australiensis Giraulti , 1936.
  49. ↑ Alexandre A. Girault: Notes and descriptions of Australian chalcid-flies III. (Hymenoptera) , 1925.
  50. ↑ a b Alexandre A. Girault and George E. Sanders : The chalcidoid parasites of the common house or typhoid fly (Musca domestica Linn.) And its allies. III. , 1910.
  51. ^ A b Alexandre A. Girault: New Capsidae and Hymenoptera with a note on an unmentionable , 1934.
personal data
SURNAME Girault, Alexandre Arsène
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Girault, Alexandre A. (shortened name); Girault, AA (shortened name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entomologist and parasitologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Annapolis , Maryland
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1941
Place of death Dunwich , Queensland