James Zetek

James Zetek (born December 12, 1886 in Chicago , Illinois , † June 2, 1959 in Panama City , Panama ) was an American entomologist who worked as a researcher in Panama.

Live and act

Zetek was the son of Czech immigrants. In 1911 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois . At the age of 25 he moved to Panama. Between 1911 and 1913 he carried out entomological studies on behalf of the Isthmian Canal Commission . His work under Colonel William C. Gorgas was mainly the study of mosquitoes and other tropical disease-transmitting insects. In 1914 he married Maria Luisa Gutierrez, a member of a respected family from Panama City. The daughter Ella was the couple's only child. Zetek was the organizing director of the National Exhibition, which took place in Panama City from 1915 to 1916. From 1916 to 1918 he was Professor of Biology and Hygiene at the National Institute of Panamá. From 1918 to 1920 he researched the entomofauna on the Panama Canal . Together with Thomas Barbour , William Morton Wheeler and Richard Pearson Strong , he convinced Jay Johnson Morrow , Governor of the Panama Canal Zone , to establish the first nature reserve in Panama on Barro Colorado Island in 1923 . From 1923 to 1956, Zetek was the first director of the Barro Colorado Research Station, which was placed under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution from 1946 . Zetek's research focused on termites . For 36 years he studied the wood-destroying behavior of termites on Barro Colorado Island, for which Zetek built extra termite houses to test the effects of chemicals on termites. Zetek also had an interest in molluscs . He collected numerous species of mussels and snails, which were described by Henry Augustus Pilsbry in the 1920s . In 1959 Zetek died of pneumonia.

Dedication names

After James Zetek, the Panama stubby frog ( Atelopus zeteki ), the mussel species Bankia zeteki , the earthworm species Bimastos zeteki , the tree frog species Isthmohyla zeteki , the snail species Scolodonta zeteki and the knot ant species Pheidole zeteki are named among others .

Works (selection)

• The general ecology of the forest-inhabiting Mollusca , 1911
• Note on the oviposition of Aedes calopus Meigen , 1913
• Determining the flight of mosquitos , 1913
• Los moluscos de la República de Panamá , 1918
• The Panama Canal species of the genus Anopheles , 1920
• The Black Fly Of Citrus And Other Subtropical Plants , 1920 (with Harry Frederic Dietz)
• Damage by termites in the Canal Zone and Panama and how to prevent it , 1924
• Influence of the Panama Canal on the development of America from the scientific point of view , 1926 (Spanish edition: Influencia del Canal de Panamá en el desarrollo de América desde el punto de vista científico, 1928)
• Information for scientists , 1951

literature

• Thomas E. Snyder, Alexander Wetmore & Bennet A. Porter: James Zetek, 1886-1959 In: Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 52, Number 6, December 1959, pp. 1230-1232
• HBB and Stewart H. Jadis: James Zetek (1886-1959) In: The Nautilus Volume 73 (1959). Pp. 159-160. ( Online )