Andrew Nelson Caudell (18 August 1872 – 1 March 1936) was an

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 ...

who specialized in the study of grasshoppers and other insects in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...

, becoming a prolific author of taxonomic studies, a member and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

(in 1915) of the Entomological Society of Washington, and a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Biography

Caudell was born August 18, 1872, in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, a son of Andrew Jackson and Mary Jane (née Bannon) Caudell. Raised in Oklahoma, he collected insects around the family farm. His introduction to entomology happened when he sheltered in an old building during a rain. There he found a copy of the US Department of Agriculture with notes on insects. He became an assistant at the entomology collections at the local college even before graduating at the agricultural college and then joined to complete his

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

degree at Oklahoma Territorial Agricultural and Mechanical College in

Stillwater, Oklahoma Stillwater is the tenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma, Payne County. It is located in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. Route 177#Oklahoma, U.S. Route 177 and Oklahoma S ...

, now

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, and undertook postgraduate study at Massachusetts Agricultural College, now the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

. After a brief employment with the Gypsy Moth Project in Massachusetts, he joined the Division of Insects of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

in 1898 and remained with the department until his death. In addition to his USDA duties, he served as custodian of the Orthoptera collection of the Division of Insects of the

United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, now the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Along with Harrison Dyar, he was sent on collection expeditions to British Columbia (1903) and Colorado (1901). Caudell maintained meticulous card indexes on Orthoptera and also took an interest in the Zoraptera and was well known for writing the ''Entomological Code'' in 1912 with Nathan Banks that was considered a supplement to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. He married on April 12, 1900, Penelope Lee Cundiff in a unique ceremony performed over

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

lines with the bride in Mulhall, Oklahoma, and the groom in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

, with the minister and two witnesses, possibly the first such ceremony ever performed. They had one daughter. Caudell died on March 1, 1936, at

Among other honors, he is memorialized by two pyralid moth

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

published in a single paper by fellow entomologist and co-worker

Harrison Gray Dyar Jr. Harrison Gray Dyar Jr. (February 14, 1866 – January 21, 1929) was an American entomologist. Dyar's Law, a pattern of geometric progression in the growth of insect parts, is named after him. He was also noted for eccentric pursuits which includ ...

, the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

''Megasis caudellella'' (Dyar, 1904) and the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Caudellia'' (Dyar, 1904)Harrison G. Dyar. 1904. Additions to the list of North American Lepidoptera, No. 2. ''Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington'' 6(2):103-118; see pp. 110, 116. and the tettigoniid grasshopper '' Conocephalus caudellianus'' (Davis, 1905), Caudell's conehead.William T. Davis. 1905. The red-headed ''Orchelimum'' and some other New Jersey Orthoptera. ''The Canadian Entomologist'' 37(8): 288-289.

References

External links

Andrew Caudell and his field books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caudell, Andrew Nelson 1872 births 1936 deaths American entomologists