Nationality Italian | Died 1935, Monreale, Italy | |
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Fields Natural history, Entomology | ||
Theodosio De Stefani Perez (6 February 1853, Santa Ninfa, Trapani – 25 February 1935, Giacalone, Palermo) was an Italian naturalist and entomologist who specialised in Hymenoptera and Diptera.
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The Via Teodosio De Stefani Perez in Palermo honours him. His collection of Coleoptera is held by the Zoology Museum of the University of Palermo.
Biography
Theodosio De Stefani Perez was born in the family castle in Santa Ninfa (Trapani) in southwestern Sicily.
He was a son of don Mariano De Stefani Falco and donna Ippolita Perez. He was the fourth of seven children. The father was the scion of a wealthy family of landowners, while the mother was a descendant of the Prince of Carloforte and heir to great wealth, but not the noble title.
He completed his primary studies at the College of San Rocco, later he served voluntary military service until 1873 and at the end of this period he finished his studies.
He became professor of Entomology at the University of Palermo and in 1889 was appointed Chief of Phytopathology for Sicily. He was a member of many scientific academies and entomological and environmental associations.
He learned the art of embalming and preservation of animals and contributed to establish the University Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy of Palermo.
He openly professed secularist, libertarian and antifascist ideas and adhered to Freemasonry, where he held the highest degree of Worshipful Master, facts that led to his being ostracised by the fascist regime.
Not interested in money, he did not draw his university salary for almost thirty years. Later he withdrew all his money at one time, but it was not enough to save him from the economic collapse, with the loss of almost all of the family assets.
He died in Giacalone, Palermo, aged 82.
The Entomologist
Theodosio De Stefani Perez mainly applied himself to the study of Hymenoptera Chalcididae and their galls, with particular attention to their relation with the host plants and the agricultural processes.
He produced more than 180 works between 1881 and 1929, published in various Italian and foreign magazines, especially German.
He was a pioneer in the study of the Hymenoptera, but this was not confined to their external descriptions and systematics, as was the common practise of the scientists of his time. In fact he was seeking an understanding of biological phenomena and function of species in their natural environment, dealing with their biology, ecology and behaviour. Among his works, about 40 deal with the Hymenoptera Chalcididae and the production of galls. He described about one hundred species of Hymenoptera, many of them still considered valid species.
He also devoted himself to the study of Coleoptera and Orthoptera, and to the Ornithology and fauna of Sicily.
In 1893 he produced the first descriptive catalog of the European species of Hymenoptera. In the early 1900s he also devoted himself to the study of the Hymenoptera of Tripolitania and East Africa.
Works
partial list