Charles Paul Alexander (September 25, 1889,

Gloversville, New York Gloversville is a city in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate New York, and the most populous city in Fulton County. Gloversville was once the hub of the United States' glovemaking industry, with over two hundred manufacturers in Gloversville an ...

- December 3, 1981) was an American

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 specialized in the craneflies,

Tipulidae Crane fly is a common name referring to any member of the insect family (biology), family Tipulidae. Cylindrotominae, Limoniinae, and Pediciinae have been ranked as subfamilies of Tipulidae by most authors, though occasionally elevated to family ...

. Charles Paul Alexander was the son of Emil Alexander and Jane Alexander (née Parker). Emil (the father) immigrated to the United States in 1873 and changed his surname from Schlandensky to Alexander. Charles entered

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1909, earning a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1913 and a Ph.D. in 1918. Between 1917 and 1919, he was entomologist at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, then from 1919 to 1922, at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. He then became professor of entomology at

Massachusetts Agricultural College The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

at Amherst. He studied

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

, especially in the family

. He described over 11,000 species and genera of flies, which translates to approximately a species description a day for his entire career. In 1920, C.P. Alexander became a Fellow of the

Entomological Society of America The Entomological Society of America (ESA) was founded in 1889 and today has more than 7,000 members, including educators, extension personnel, consultants, students, researchers, and scientists from agricultural departments, health agencies, ...

Works

Partial list A synopsis of part of the Neotropical Crane-flies of the subfamily Limnobinae (Tipulidae) 69 p - 4 pl (1913).

Sources

Anthony Musgrave (1932). Bibliography of Australian Entomology, 1775–1930, with biographical notes on authors and collectors, Royal Zoological Society of News South Wales (Sydney): viii + 380.

External links

* * ;From the

Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution ...

Charles P. Alexander Papers, 1905-1979

Charles P. Alexander Papers, 1930-1977
(Under List of 4733 Crane Fly Literature Citations)
Systema Dipterorum
Provides complete Charles Paul Alexander Diptera Bibliography
Systema Dipterorum
Provides complete list of genera and species described by Charles Paul Alexander (13,446 taxa)
NomenclatorZoologicus
Full list of Alexander genera via search (363 genera) 1889 births 1981 deaths American entomologists Cornell University alumni University of Kansas faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Fellows of the Entomological Society of America 20th-century American zoologists Presidents of the Entomological Society of America {{US-entomologist-stub