{{Short description|American entomologist (1889–1981)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} [[File:C_P_Alexander.jpg|thumb|From Cornell 1913 Class Book]] '''Charles Paul Alexander''' (September 25, 1889, [[Gloversville, New York]] – December 3, 1981) was an American [[Entomology|entomologist]] who specialized in the [[Tipulidae]] family of craneflies. He described more than 10,000 species of cranefly.
== Life and work == Charles Paul Alexander was born in Gloversville, the son of Emil Alexander and Jane Alexander (née Parker). Emil (the father) immigrated to the United States in 1873 and changed his surname from Schlandensky to Alexander. As a boy "Chuck" took an keen interest in maps and went into Simmons Woods along with his friend Axel Olsson to examine the natural world. They kept a list of the plants. At the age of 10 Alexander was interested in birds and was involved in a survey of Fulton County for E. H. Eaton who used the information in ''Birds of New York''. His older brother [[William Prindle Alexander]] (1881-1956) became a noted conservationist. e began to study insects after comparing the numbers of species of insects and birds. He met [[Ephraim Porter Felt|E. P. Felt]], the state entomologist, and took a box of 20-30 craneflies for identification in 1906. Felt noted that there was nobody in the country who could identify them and was able to name just one specimen as the species ''Bittacomorpha clavipes''. Felt encouraged Alexander to study entomology, recommending Cornell University. He sought to become a student of James G. Needham. He was initially rejected at Cornell for lacking a knowledge of German (German III). He then worked at a glove factory in Johnstown and spent an hour a day to study and pass German III from Johnstown High School. Charles entered [[Cornell University]] in 1909, earning a [[Bachelor of Science]] in 1913 and a Ph.D. in 1918. Between 1917 and 1919, he was an entomologist at the [[University of Kansas]], serving also as curator of the Snow Entomological Collection. From 1919 to 1922, he worked at the Illinois State Natural History Survey in Urbana. In 1922 he became professor of entomology at [[Massachusetts Agricultural College]] at [[Amherst, Massachusetts|Amherst]]. He became dean in 1946 and retired in 1959.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Knizeski |first=Henry M. |date=1979 |title=Dr. Charles Paul Alexander |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25009159 |journal=Journal of the New York Entomological Society |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=186–188 |issn=0028-7199}}</ref> He studied [[Diptera]], especially in the family [[Tipulidae]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Charles P. Alexander Papers|work=Record Unit 7298, Alexander, Charles P, (Charles Paul), 1889-1981|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution Archives]]|url=https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217455|access-date=10 September 2019}}</ref> He described 11,755 taxa of flies,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oosterbroek |first=Pjotr |date=2009-12-22 |title=On the 11.755 insect taxa named by Charles P. Alexander |url=https://www.mapress.com/j/zs/article/view/zoosymposia.3.1.1 |journal=Zoosymposia |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=9–15 |doi=10.11646/zoosymposia.3.1.1 |issn=1178-9913|url-access=subscription }}</ref> which translates to approximately a species description a day for his entire career.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wheeler, Jr. |first=A.G. |year=1985 |title=Charles P. Alexander: a tribute, with emphasis on his boyhood in Fulton County, New York, and his studies at Cornell University |journal=J. New York Entomol. Soc. |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=1141-1164}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Oosterbroek |first=Pjotr |year=2022 |title=Charles P. and Mabel M. Alexander, the crane fly couple and their achievements |url=https://dipterists.org/assets/PDF/flytimes069.pdf |journal=Fly Times |volume=69 |pages=26-33}}</ref>
He married [[Mabel M. Alexander|Mabel M. Miller]] (1894–1979) in 1917 and she also became a specialist on the flies.<ref name=":0" /> In 1920, Alexander became a Fellow of the [[Entomological Society of America]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.entsoc.org/awards/honors/fellows_list|title=List of ESA Fellows|publisher=Entomological Society of America|access-date=10 September 2019}}</ref>
==Publications== Partial list, for a fuller list, see Oosterbroek (2022):
* [https://ccw.naturalis.nl/documents/Alexander,_1913d.pdf A synopsis of part of the Neotropical Crane-flies of the subfamily Limnobinae] (1913) * (Tipulidae) 69 p – 4 pl (1913). * The Crane flies of the Galapagoes Islands <ref name="l982">{{cite journal| last=Alexander | first=Charles Paul | title=The Crane flies of the Galapagoes Islands| journal= Opuscula Zoologica| date=1963 | url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-239930 | access-date=2025-09-25}}</ref> * The Crane Flies of Alaska and the Canadian Northwest (Tipulidae, Diptera) The Genus Erioptera Meigen <ref name="r869">{{cite web | title= The Crane Flies of Alaska and the Canadian Northwest (Tipulidae, Diptera) The Genus Erioptera Meigen | url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56335/MP090.pdf;sequence=1 | access-date=2025-09-25}}</ref>
==Sources== {{Reflist}} == Other sources == * Anthony Musgrave (1932). Bibliography of Australian Entomology, 1775–1930, with biographical notes on authors and collectors, Royal Zoological Society of News South Wales (Sydney): viii + 380.
==External links== *{{Gutenberg author|id=Alexander,+Charles+P.|name=Charles P. Alexander}} *{{Internet Archive author|sname=Charles Paul Alexander|sopt=t}} ;From the [[Smithsonian Institution Archives]] **[http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_229244 Charles P. Alexander Papers, 1905-1979] **[http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_246859 Charles P. Alexander Papers, 1930-1977]{{Dead link|date=November 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} *[https://archive.today/20130414113125/http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/cranefly/AllLiterature.htm Published works] (Under List of 4733 Crane Fly Literature Citations) *[http://diptera.dk/ReferencesSearch.php Systema Dipterorum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820043226/http://www.diptera.dk/ReferencesSearch.php |date=2019-08-20 }} Provides complete Charles Paul Alexander Diptera Bibliography *[http://diptera.dk/NomenclatorSearch.php Systema Dipterorum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928121641/https://www.diptera.dk/NomenclatorSearch.php |date=2018-09-28 }} Provides complete list of genera and species described by Charles Paul Alexander (13,446 taxa) *[http://www.ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus/ NomenclatorZoologicus] Full list of Alexander genera via search (363 genera)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Charles Paul}} [[Category:1889 births]] [[Category:1981 deaths]] [[Category:American entomologists]] [[Category:Cornell University alumni]] [[Category:University of Kansas faculty]] [[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty]] [[Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty]] [[Category:Fellows of the Entomological Society of America]] [[Category:20th-century American zoologists]] [[Category:Presidents of the Entomological Society of America]] [[Category:People from Fulton County, New York]]
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