Roy R. Snelling (September 30, 1934 — April 21, 2008) was an internationally renowned American

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 studied

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 ...

, mainly

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s and

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s. He was the emeritus collections manager at the

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are par ...

where he worked for over 30 years, joining the museum in 1963 and retiring in 1993. He dedicated his professional life to making insect biodiversity better known and appreciated. As a foremost

myrmecologist Myrmecology (; from Greek: μύρμηξ, ''myrmex'', "ant" and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a branch of entomology focusing on the study of ants. Ants continue to be a model of choice for the study of questions on the evolution of social ...

, he is credited with many important finds of rare or new ant species, such as the first ''Aphaenogaster cockerelli'' as ''Novomessor cockerelli'' colony in California, ''Myrmecocystus tenuinodis'' Snelling 1976, ''Neivamyrmex wilsoni'' Snelling & Snelling 2007, and ''Myrmecocystus wheeleri'', named by Snelling after the noted myrmecologist

William Morton Wheeler William Morton Wheeler (March 19, 1865 – April 19, 1937) was an American entomologist, myrmecologist and professor at Harvard University. Biography Early life and education William Morton Wheeler was born on March 19, 1865, to parents Juliu ...

, who was also

William Steel Creighton William Steel Creighton (April 3, 1902, Philadelphia – July 23, 1973, Alexandria Bay) was an American myrmecologist and taxonomist. His work focused on ants of North America, including an extensive revision of their systematics published in 1 ...

's academic adviser. Snelling wrote that he was much influenced by W. S. Creighton's important 1950 volume ''The Ants of North America''. In his career, Snelling would collaborate many times with Creighton, whose ant collection is now housed at the Los Angeles county museum. Snelling studied at junior college in

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

, but dropped out to become self-educated. Before going to the Los Angeles County museum, he spent time in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

(1959) and as an inspector with the

California Department of Food and Agriculture The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet-level agency in the government of California. Established in 1919 by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William Stephens (Am ...

. Snelling also studied briefly at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

but did not complete the graduate program. Together with Charles Leonard Hogue, Snelling was a technical adviser for the Academy Award-winning documentary

The Hellstrom Chronicle ''The Hellstrom Chronicle'' is an American film released in 1971 which combines elements of documentary, horror and apocalyptic prophecy to present a satirical depiction of the struggle for survival between humans and insects. It won both the 1 ...

.The New York Times Movies - The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971) Production Credits
/ref> Many ant species hve been named after Snelling, including: *'' Azteca snellingi'' *'' Camponotus snellingi'' *'' Crematogaster snellingi'' *'' Meranoplus snellingi'' *'' Mycetophylax snellingi'' *'' Pogonomyrmex snellingi'' *'' Polyrhachis snellingi'' *'' Stenamma snellingi'' *'' Strumigenys snellingi'' *'' Tetramorium snellingi'' *'' Proceratium snellingi''

References

External links

List of published papers by Roy Snelling

Published papers by Roy Snelling, with pdfs

Roy Snelling obituary. ''Los Angeles Times''. May 12, 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snelling, Roy R. 1934 births 2008 deaths Hymenopterists American entomologists Myrmecologists 20th-century American zoologists