William Schaus

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William Schaus (born January 11, 1858 in New York City , † June 20, 1942 ) was an American entomologist .

Life

William Schaus was the son of Wilhelm Schaus (1820-1892), a German immigrant in the United States, and Margaret Connover. His father was an art dealer and owner of the drama galleries in New York. Schaus initially attended the PEA in New Hampshire , but also attended schools in France and Germany . He received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1921 . He gave up an initially aspired artistic career when, under the influence of Henry Edwards, he discovered his interest in entomology, especially butterflies. In 1919 he joined the United States Department of Agriculture's Entomology Bureau . From 1921 he was Honorary Curator of the Butterfly Collection at the National Museum of Natural History. In 1925 he received his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh as Doctor of Science.

In the course of his life he collected around 200,000 specimens of the order of the butterflies (Lepidoptera). He collected large parts of his collection on his travels to Mexico , Costa Rica , Guatemala and other countries in South America . In total , he described 327 genera and over 5,000 species of butterflies, mostly from the tropics of South America , such as Ormetica taniala . Schaus donated most of his collection to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ USNM Lepidoptera Collections, National Museum of Natural History , accessed March 16, 2016.

Works (selection)

  • American Lepidoptera: illustrations of new and rare species . Part I, London: RH Porter, 1892. (Digitized by Biodiversity Heritage Library at [1] )
  • Descriptions of new American butterflies 1902. Kessinger Publishing (2010 reprint)

swell

personal data
SURNAME Schaus, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entomologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1942