Herbert Spencer Barber

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Herbert Spencer Barber (born April 12, 1882 in Yankton (South Dakota) , † June 1, 1950 ) was an American entomologist whose main interest was the beetles . He became known for discovering what is arguably the strangest life cycle of an animal, the beetle Micromalthus debilis , and for developing the Barber trap, which was later named after him .

Barber was born the son of civil engineers Amherst Willoughby Barber and Velma Barber. He attended schools in Orlando, Florida, and later high school in Washington, DC for two years , and also took evening classes. He acquired his knowledge largely self-taught. He has been interested in insects since childhood and assisted from 1898 to 1902 and from 1904 to 1908 in the National Museum in Washington as a taxidermist for the famous entomologist Eugene Amandus Schwarz (1844–1928) , who came from Silesia . In the intervening years he worked for the US Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) on insects as pests on cotton . Since 1908 he worked with the USDA in particular with beetles and became an internationally recognized specialist for the identification of leaf beetles , fireflies and seed beetles .

The records of his research trips to California (1903), Texas (1904 and 1918), Guatemala (1906) and Arizona (1914) as well as his private and business correspondence are kept in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution .

Important scientific work

His most important scientific works include:

  • The remarkable life-history of a new family (Micromalthidae) of beetles. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 26, pp. 185-190, pl. 4, 1913
  • Observations on the life history of Micromalthus debilis Lec. (Coleoptera). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 15, pp. 31-38, 1913
  • Traps for cave-inhabiting insects. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, Volume 46, pp. 259-266, 1931

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SIA RU007103 , Herbert Spencer Barber Papers, 1903-1950 in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution

Web links

  • Obituary with photo by Herbert Spencer Barber
personal data
SURNAME Barber, Herbert Spencer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barber, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entomologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Yankton, South Dakota
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1950