Alexander Craw (3 August 1850 – 28 June 1908) was a pioneer American economic entomologist. He was the first American entomologist to work in quarantine protection against foreign pests arriving by ship to San Francisco, California. Along with

Albert Koebele Albert Koebele (28 February 1853 - 28 December 1924) was an economic entomologist and a pioneer in the use of biological controls to manage insect pests. Early career Koebele was born in Waldkirch, Germany, in 1853. There are no details about ...

he was involved in the introduction of '' Rodolia cardinalis'' from Australia to control ''

Icerya purchasi ''Icerya purchasi'' ( common name: cottony cushion scale) is a scale insect that feeds on more than 80 families of woody plants, most notably on ''Citrus'' and ''Pittosporum''. Originally described in 1878 from specimens collected in New Zealand ...

''. He was also involved in the introduction of ''

Rhyzobius ventralis ''Rhyzobius ventralis'', common names including black lady beetle, gumtree scale ladybird, is a ladybird species endemic to Tasmania and all the mainland states of Australia except the Northern Territory. It is also found in New Zealand, but not ...

'' to control the black scale, ''

Saissetia oleae ''Saissetia oleae'' ( syn. ''Coccus oleae'') is a scale insect in the family Coccidae. It is considered one of the three main phytophagous parasites of the olive tree (''Olea europaea''), together with the olive fruit fly (''Bactrocera oleae'') ...

''. Craw was born in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland where he trained in horticulture. He worked in the Royal nurseries at Ascot and at Martins and Son, Cottingham before he moved to California in 1873 and worked as a horticulturist there. After two years in San Diego, he worked at the Wolfskill orange groves in Los Angeles and became a member of the Horticultural Commission of California. From 1890 he worked in the port of San Francisco as a quarantine officer to prevent the entry of potential pests. In 1904 he quit his California position and took up a position as superintendent of entomology to the board of agriculture and forestry in Hawaii where he established quarantine procedures. His position in California was taken up by E.M. Ehrhorn. Craw died of kidney failure at Wawona in the Yosemite valley at the home of his sister. His papers were destroyed in fires following the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craw, Alexander American entomologists 1850 births 1908 deaths British emigrants to the United States