Walter Wolfgang Kempf (26 March 1920 – 20 August 1976) was a German-Brazilian

Franciscan priest , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

and an entomologist who specialized on the ants of South America. Kempf was born in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

from where his father had been forced by the National Socialist Party in 1935 to emigrate to Brazil, Rolandia (Parana). Kempf worked on the family estate and then went to join the Franciscan Order in Rio Negro around 1936 and after training at

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

and Petropolis, he was ordained priest in 1945. He was interested in ethnology and collected material on the mythology of indigenous people. After meeting

Thomas Borgmeier Thomas Borgmeier (31 October 1892 – 11 May 1975) was a German-Brazilian priest and entomologist and became a specialist on the ants of Brazil and on the flies in the family Phoridae. He was also the founder of the journals ''Revista de Entomologia ...

at Petropolis in 1944 he realized that he could conduct entomological studies. He began to collect and examine ants in his laboratory in Rio de Janeiro. He went to study entomology at Siena College, New York and received a bachelor's degree in 1948 and was sponsored for a PhD at Cornell University where he worked on the ant tribe

Cephalotini Fungus-growing ants (tribe Attini) comprise all the known fungus-growing ant species participating in ant–fungus mutualism. They are known for cutting grasses and leaves, carrying them to their colonies' nests, and using them to grow fungus on ...

under the supervision of V.S.L. Pate. He returned to continue his entomological studies. Along with Borgmeier, he founded the journal ''Studia Entomologica''. He became a visiting professor at the University of Brasilia in 1975. He died from a heart attack while in Washington DC attending the International Entomological Congress in August, 1976 on the night before he was due to present a paper on the ants of the São Paulo State. He was buried at

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempf, Walter Wolfgang German entomologists Franciscans People from Speyer 1920 births 1976 deaths Myrmecologists