Altus Lacy Quaintance (December 19, 1870 – August 7, 1958) was an American entomologist who specialized in the study of insect pests of fruit trees. He was recognized as an expert on
Aleyrodidae
Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 species have been described.
Description and taxonomy
The A ...
, a family of white flies that are major pests of citrus and greenhouse plants.
[Mallis]
Biography
Quaintance was born December 19, 1870 in
New Sharon, Iowa
New Sharon is a city in Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,262 at the time of the 2020 census. The first building was erected in 1856 by Edward Quaintance.
Geography
New Sharon is located at (41.469, -92.650).
According ...
. He received a Bachelor of Science at the Florida Agricultural College at the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
in 1893, a Master of Science from the
Alabama Polytechnic Institute
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
in 1894 and at the same location, a Doctor of Sciences in 1915.
From 1894 to 1902, Quaintance taught biology and entomology at the University of Florida, served as an entomologist at the agricultural experimental station of Georgia, and then worked as an entomologist at the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...
. In 1903, he was hired at the US
Bureau of Entomology The Bureau of Entomology was a unit within the Federal government of the United States from 1894 to 1934. It developed from a section of the Department of Agriculture which had been working on entomological researches and allied issues relating to ...
and later became entomologist in charge of the new Division of Deciduous Fruit Insect Investigations, responsible for research on insect pests of fruit trees, a function that he retained until his retirement in 1930.
After his retirement, Quaintance settled on his farm, called "Quaint Acres", in Maryland where he propagated fruit and ornamental nursery stock. He died at his home near
Silver Spring,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...
on August 7, 1958.
Quaintance was a charter member of the Entomological Society of America, served as president of the Entomological Society of Washington,
[Ent. Soc. of Washington] and was elected president of the American Association of Economic Entomologists in 1904.
Partial list of publications
* With
William Moore Scott ''Spraying peaches for the control of brown-rot, scab, and curculio'' (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1911).
* ''Contributions toward monograph of American Aleurodidae; Red spiders of U.S. (Tetranychus and Stigmaeus)'' (1900).
* With
Arthur Challen Baker (1875–1959) ''Control of aphids injurious to orchard fruits, currant, gooseberry and grape'' (1920).
* ''Cotton bollworm'' (1903–1904).
* ''Fumigation of apples for San Jose scale'' (1909).
References
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Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Quaintance, Altus Lacy
American entomologists
Auburn University alumni
1870 births
1958 deaths
People from Silver Spring, Maryland
People from Mahaska County, Iowa
University of Florida alumni