Lea, Arthur Mills (1868 - 1932)

Summary

Arthur Lea was an entomologist whose main interest was in beetles, particularly weevils. His early career was largely concerned with economic entomology although his principle interest was in taxonomy. His published output included many revisionary papers in which he described more than 5400 new species of Coleoptera. Many Australian entomologists sent specimens to him for identification and naming. Lea was Government Entomologist for the Western Australian and Tasmanian Governments before joining the South Australian Museum. He enjoyed a world-wide reputation as an economic entomologist from his work in Tasmania on the control of Codlin Moth and other pests, and for the South Australian Weevil Commission for which he developed a method of protecting from insect pests the wheat that had accumulated during WWI. In 1924 he was engaged by the Government of Fiji to investigate ways of controlling coconut moth. A collection of his Coleoptera specimens was donated in 1929 to the CSIRO Division of Economic Entomology. To the South Australian Institute Lea bequeathed a large and diverse collection of beetles from all over Australia and off-shore islands.

Details

Chronology

1891 - 1895

Career position - Assistant Entomologist, New South Wales Department of Mines and Agriculture

1895 - 1899

Career position - Government Entomologist, Western Australian Department of Agriculture

1897 - 1932

Career position - Fellow, Royal Society of South Australia

1899 - 1911

Career position - Government Entomologist, Tasmanian Department of Agriculture (and Stock)

1911 - 1923

Career position - Consulting Entomologist, South Australian Department of Agriculture

1911 - 1932

Career position - Entomologist, South Australian Institute

1912 - 1924

Career position - Lecturer in Forest Entomology, University of Adelaide

1923 - 1932

Career position - Member of Council, Royal Society of South Australia

Related entries

Archival resources

Private hands (Gellie, C.L.)

• Arthur Mills Lea - Records, 1868 - 1932; Private hands (Gellie, C.L.). Details

Published resources

Books

• Musgrave, A., Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930: with biographical notes on authors and collectors (Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1932), 380 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Matthews, E. G., 'Lea, Arthur Mills (1868-1932), entomologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 31-32. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100028b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Hale, H. M., 'Obituary and Bibliography of A. M. Lea.', Records of the South Australian Museum, 4 (1932), 411-432. Details
• Hale, Herbert M., 'Obituary notice: Arthur Mills Lea', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 56 (1932), 1-2, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41566816. Details
• Mathews, E. G., 'A bibliography of Arthur Mills Lea (1868 - 1932)', Australian Entomological Society News Bulletin, 21 (1985), 7-21. Details
• Musgrave, A., 'Arthur Mills Lea', Australian Museum Magazine, 4 (1932), 342. Details
• Waite, Edgar R. [and others], 'Results of the South Australian Museum expedition to Strzelecki and Cooper Creeks, September and October 1916', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 41 (1917), 405-665, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43114958. Details
• Walker, J. J., 'Arthur Mills Lea, F.E.S.', Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 73 (1932), 165-6. Details
• Wilson, F. Erasmus, 'Arthur Mills Lea', The Victorian naturalist, 49 (1932), 15-8. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2865257. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/192132621. Details
• 'Lea, Arthur M (1868-1932)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-628555. Details

See also

• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details