Alessandro Trotter (26 July 1874 – 22 July 1967)) was an Italian

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

who pioneered in cecidology, the study of plant galls.

Biography

Trotter's first work on cecidology dated back to 1897, and he reported 124 galls of which 21 were caused by

eriophyid Eriophyidae is a family of more than 200 genera of mites, which live as plant parasites, commonly causing galls or other damage to the plant tissues and hence known as gall mites. About 3,600 species have been described, but this is probably ...

mites. Trotter travelled around Italy between 1899 and 1909 and described 742 galls in 20 papers. At the age of 28, he founded a journal called Marcella in honour of

Marcello Malpighi Marcello Malpighi (10 March 1628 – 30 November 1694) was an Italian biologist and physician, who is referred to as the "Founder of microscopical anatomy, histology & Father of physiology and embryology". Malpighi's name is borne by several phy ...

which dealt with cecidology.Bernini, Fabio (2002) Acarid Phylogeny and Evolution: Adaptation in Mites and Ticks. Springer. pp. 7–8 He later became professor of

plant pathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...

at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

and wrote more than 400 publications with nearly 110 on plant galls. He described several new species of

Cynipidae Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this genera ...

and

Cecidomyiidae Cecidomyiidae is a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small insects usu ...

some with

Jean-Jacques Kieffer Jean-Jacques Kieffer (1857 in Guinkirchen – 1925 in Bitche) was a French naturalist and entomologist who specialised in the study of parasitic insects. Educated as a priest, Kieffer taught natural science in Bitche, Lorraine while working on ...

. Trotter was the son-in-law of

Pier Andrea Saccardo Pier Andrea Saccardo (23 April 1845 in Treviso, Treviso – 12 February 1920 in Padua) was an Italian botanist and mycologist. Life Saccardo studied at the Lyceum in Venice, and then at the Technical Institute of the University of Padua wher ...

(1845–1920).

Works

Partial List *''Flora Italica Cryptogamica''. Pars I: Fungi. Fasc. IV. Uredinales (Genera: Uromyces et Puccinia). (1908). *''Sylloge Fungorum'' 23: i-xxxii, (1925). *''Sylloge Fungorum'' 24 (1): 1–703 (1926). *''Sylloge Fungorum'' 24 (2): 704–1438 (1928).

References

Bibliography

* Cesare Conci et Roberto Poggi (1996), Iconography of Italian Entomologists, with essential biographical data. ''Memorie della Società entomologica Italiana'', 75: 159–382.

External links

* 1874 births 1967 deaths 19th-century Italian botanists Italian entomologists People from Udine 20th-century Italian botanists {{Italy-botanist-stub