Thomas Say first describes the Colorado potato beetle (1824)

Thomas Say formally described the Colorado potato beetle in 1824, publishing his findings in American Entomology. Although Thomas Nuttall first observed the insect in 1811, Say's work established its scientific identity. The beetle was discovered in the Rocky Mountains, an area between Colorado and northern Mexico, before its later association with potato crops.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. The Colorado potato beetle, known as Leptinotarsa decemlineata, was first observed in 1811 by Thomas Nuttall. However, the formal scientific description was completed in 1824 by American entomologist Thomas Say. Say published these descriptions in his work American Entomology, which was produced in Philadelphia between 1824 and 1828.

Publication. Thomas Say's formal description was published in American Entomology, or Descriptions of the Insects of North America. This three-volume work was published in Philadelphia from 1824 to 1828. Say served as chief zoologist in Long's expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1823, preceding the publication of his entomological descriptions.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.