Berlese, Antonio

Born June 26, 1863, in Padua; died Oct. 24, 1927, in Florence. Italian zoologist.

After graduating from the University of Padua in 1885, Berlese worked until 1890 at the agricultural station in Florence. From 1890 to 1903 he was a professor in Portici. From 1903 he was director of the station of agricultural entomology in Florence. Berlese is the author of about 300 works, including works on ticks and on the lower land arthropods, on the biology and anatomy of many harmful scale insects and flies, and on the Protura order, as well as a two-volume monograph entitled Insects: Their Organization and Development (1909–25). He is one of the founders of the biological method of fighting harmful insects and is the author of a hypothesis of the origin of insect metamorphosis.