Filippo Silvestri (22 June 1873 – 10 June 1949) was an Italian

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. He specialised in world

Protura The Protura, or proturans, and sometimes nicknamed coneheads, are very small (0.6–1.5mm long), soil-dwelling animals, so inconspicuous they were not noticed until the 20th century. The Protura constitute an order of hexapods that were previou ...

, Thysanura,

Diplura The order Diplura ("two-pronged bristletails") is one of three orders of non-insect hexapods within the class Entognatha (alongside Collembola (springtails) and Protura). The name "diplura", or "two tails", refers to the characteristic pair o ...

and

Isoptera Termites are a group of detritophagous eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, and soil humus. They are distinguished by their moniliform antennae and the soft-bo ...

, but also worked on

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

Myriapoda Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. Although molecular evidence and similar fossils suggests a diversifi ...

and Italian

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 advance ...

. He is also noted for describing and naming the previously unknown order

Zoraptera The insect order (biology), order Zoraptera, commonly known as angel insects, contains small and soft bodied insects with two forms: winged with wings sheddable as in termites, dark and with eyes (compound) and ocelli (simple); or wingless, pale ...

. In 1938 he was nominated to the

Pontifical Academy of Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (, ) is a Academy of sciences, scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study ...

, the scientific academy of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

. Silvestri was born in Bevagna. A keen young naturalist, he became assistant to

Giovanni Battista Grassi Giovanni Battista Grassi (27 March 1854 – 4 May 1925) was an Italian people, Italian physician and zoologist, best known for his pioneering works on parasitology, especially on malariology. He was Professor of Comparative Zoology at the Unive ...

(1854–1925), Director of the Institute of Anatomical Research of the University of Rome. In 1904, Silvestri became Director of the Institute of Entomology and Zoology at the agricultural college in Portici (the Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria, now Faculty of Agriculture), a position he held for 45 years. He discovered polyembryony in the 1930s while working on ''Litomatix truncatellus'' Hymenoptera. His collection is in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova. Duplicates of Isoptera are in the Swedish Museum of Natural History and a few

Diplopoda Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

(millipede) types are in the

Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum () is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major museums in Germany alongside Naturm ...

Berlin. Filippo Sivestri has been commemorated in the names of the following: a square in his home town, Bevagna; a high school in Portici, the town where he worked and died; and a street in Rome (00134 Borgo Lotti). A species of South American worm lizard, '' Amphisbaena silvestrii'' is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Silvestri", p. 244). Publications on termites. *Nota preliminare sui termitidi sud-americani. Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia e Anatomia Comparata della Università di Torino XVI(389):1-8.( 1901) *Contribuzione alla conoscenza dei Termiti e Termitofili dell'America Meridionale. ''Redia'' 1:1-234. .( 1903) *''Isoptera''. In: ''Die Fauna Südwest-Australia''. Vol. 2, edited by W. Michaelsen & R. Hartmeyer. pp. 279–314. .( 1909)
Contribuzione alla conoscenza dei Termitidi e Termitofili dell'Africa occidentale.'' Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia General e Agraria, Portici'' 9:1-146
.( 1914) *Descriptiones termitum in Anglorum Guiana. ''Zoologica'' 3(16):307-321. .( 1923) * ''Descrizioni di due nuove specie di Isoptera dell'Africa.'' Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria, Portici 21:91-95. .( 1928) *Nuovo concetto di fasi corrispondenti all'età della colonia negli individui di una stessa specie componenti una colonia di termiti e descrizione di due specie nuove di Syntermes. ''Bollettino del Laboratorio di Entomologia Agraria, Portici'' 6:1-14 (1946).

References

1873 births 1949 deaths People from Bevagna Italian entomologists Hymenopterists Myriapodologists Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences {{entomologist-stub