Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell | |
|---|---|
 Cockerell in the 1930s | |
| Born | (1866-08-22)22 August 1866 West Norwood, London, England |
| Died | 26 January 1948(1948-01-26) (aged 81)[2] |
| Resting place | Columbia Cemetery,Boulder, Colorado, US |
| Citizenship | United States UK |
| Alma mater | Middlesex Hospital Medical School |
| Spouses | Annie Fenn Cockerell,Wilmatte Porter Cockerell |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Entomology, systematic biology |
| Institutions | New MexicoAgricultural Experiment Station,New Mexico Normal University,University of Colorado,University of Colorado Museum of Natural History |
| Notable students | Charlotte Cortlandt Ellis |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Cockerell |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Ckll.[1] |
Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell (22 August 1866 – 26 January 1948) was an American entomologist andsystematic biologist who published nearly 4,000 papers, some of them only a few lines long. Cockerell's speciality was the insect orderHymenoptera (bees and wasps), an area of study where he described specimens from the United States, the West Indies, Honduras, the Philippines, Africa, and Asia. Cockerell named at least 5,500 species and varieties of bees and almost 150 genera and subgenera, representing over a quarter of all species of bees known during his lifetime. In addition to his extensive studies of bees, he published papers on scale insects, slugs, moths, fish scales, fungi, roses and other flowers, mollusks, and a wide variety of other plants and animals.
_and_Theodore_Dru_Alison_Cockerell_(1866-1948)_(cropped).jpg)
Cockerell was born in Norwood, Greater London, and died inSan Diego, California.
He married Annie Sarah Fenn in 1891 (she died in 1893) andWilmatte Porter in 1900. In 1901, he named the ultramarine blue chromodoridMexichromis porterae (nowFelimare porterae) in her honor. After their marriage in 1900, they frequently went on collecting expeditions together and assembled a large private library of natural history films, which they showed to schoolchildren and public audiences to promote the cause of environmental conservation.
He died in 1948, aged 81, and was buried in Columbia Cemetery inBoulder, Colorado.[3]
Between 1891 and 1901, Cockerell was thecurator of the public museum ofKingston, Jamaica, professor of entomology of theNew MexicoAgricultural Experiment Station. In 1900–03, he was an instructor in biology at theNew Mexico Normal School. While there, he taught and mentoredCharlotte Cortlandt Ellis.[4]
In 1904, Cockerell became the curator of theColorado College Museum and a lecturer on entomology. In 1906 he became a professor of systematic zoology at theUniversity of Colorado where he worked withJunius Henderson in establishing theUniversity of Colorado Museum of Natural History. During World War II, he operated theDesert Museum inPalm Springs, California.[5]
In 1912, Cockerell first described theMegachile zexmeniae, a species ofleafcutter bee.[6]
Cockerell was author of more than 2,200 articles in scientific publications, especially on the Hymenoptera, Hemiptera and Mollusca, and on paleontology and various phases of evolution, plus some 1,700 other works, including treatises on social reform and education. He was one of the most prolifictaxonomists in history, publishing descriptions of over 9,000species andgenera of insects alone, some 6,400 of which were bees and some 1,000 mollusks,arachnids,fungi,mammals,fish andplants.[7]
This includes descriptions of numerousfossil taxa, such as the landmark study,Some Fossil Insects fromFlorissant, Colorado (1913).The standardauthor abbreviationCockerell is used to indicate this person as the author whenciting abotanical name.[8] In an obituary note that appeared in theNature on 14 February 1948, R.B. Benson observed that Cockerell "acquired the habit of hurrying his ideas and observations into print as soon as he could. The habit persisted throughout his long life, so that almost all his work appeared in the form of short papers".[9]
Cockerell and Wilmatte traveled to the United Kingdom in 1921. While there, they visited theRoyal Botanic Garden Edinburgh where, according to himself in 1937,Isaac Bayley Balfour proved that the plantPrimula ellisiae was a distinct species fromP. rusbyi. He had named thistaxon in honor of its discoverer, one of his students,Charlotte Cortlandt Ellis.[10][11] However, at present this taxon is regarded as asynonym ofP. rusbyi.[12]
Cockerell was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1928.[13] A dormitory in the Engineering Quad at theUniversity of Colorado at Boulder and the mothGivira theodori are named in his honor.
Taxa named by Cockerell include:
| Name | Year | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1906 | United States | ||||
1906 | Florissant Formation | United States | A mason bee | ||
1923 | United States | Amyrmeciine ant | |||
1893 | Extant | aland slug genus | |||
1924 | Russia | ||||
1922 | Florissant Formation | United States |  | ||
1906 | Florissant Formation | ||||
1906 | Baltic amber & Florissant Formation, Colorado | Europe | An Eocene wasp genus |  | |
1917 | Florissant Formation | United States | Amoth, moved toPaleolepidopterites destructus |  | |
1907 | Florissant Formation | United States | A moth, moved toPaleolepidopterites florissantanus |  | |
| Trigona corvina | 1913 | Central America & South America | A stingless bee |  |
