Silvestri, Filippo

Silvestri, Filippo 

Born June 22, 1873, in Bevagna, near Perugia; died there June 1, 1949. Italian zoologist. Member of the National Academy of Lincei (1919; corresponding member, 1905).

Silvestri was a university student in Rome from 1896 to 1898 and from to 1900 to 1902. From 1902 he was a docent; from 1904 to the end of his life he was a professor at the Higher Agricultural School—since 1936 the faculty of agriculture of the University of Naples—in Portici. There he founded the Institute of Agricultural Entomology, which now bears his name.

Silvestri is known for his research on Apterygota and Myrio-poda, as well as on pests and their parasites. He discovered two orders of insects—Protura and Zoraptera—and the phenomenon of hypermetamorphosis in ground beetles. A pioneer in the biological control of plant pests, he wrote several works on en-tomophagous organisms and a monograph on destructive insects. He was the first to propose the concept of integrated pest control, as well as the term (1931). Silvestri was an honorary member of many academies and scientific societies.

REFERENCES

Giliarov, M. S. “K 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia F. Sil’vestri.” Entomologicheskoe obozrenie, 1973, vol. 52, issue 2.
Bolletino del Laboratorio di Entomologia Agraria Portici, 1949, vol. 9, pp. XI-XLIX.

M. S. GILIAROV [23–1113–]