George Charles Champion

George Charles Champion ( 29 April 1851 - 8 August 1927 ) was an English entomologist specialising in studies of Coleoptera.

George Charles Champion, the eldest son of George Champion, was born in Walworth, South London. Encouraged by J. Platt-Barret began collecting beetles when he was 16. Champion's initial work was mainly in the Home Counties. Recognized as a serious coleopterist he accepted a post as collector for Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin to work on "Biologia Centrali-Americana".Champion left England February 1879 for Guatemala, . where he arrived on 16 March. Then commencing four years of journeys and intensive collecting which are described in a series of articles he wrote to the Entomologists' Monthly Magazine. Successful as a collector returned to England in 1883 with 15,000 species of insects. A former businessman he was employed by Godman and Salvin, as a secretary and he saw through the press the 52 volumes of the Biologia. Champion also preparing the Coleoptera sections for publication and in wrote the volumes and parts covering the Heteromera, the Elateridae and Dascillidae, the Cassididae, and Curculionidae. He described more than 4,000 species new to science in this work.

He published 426 articles some in and he also published frequently in the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" mainly on beetles from Woking which he sometime edited.

He was a Fellow of the Entomological Society of London from 1871, on the Entomological Society Council 1875-77, Vice President in 1925, and Librarian 1891-1920. He compiled the Catalogue and Supplement of the Library. He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Zoological Society of London. He also helped to found the South London Entomological and Natural History Society .

Collections

Champion’s beetle collection which includes 150,000 continental and other foreign beetles is in the Natural History Museum, London (Some parts are elsewhere especially in the Hope Department of Entomology ).

External links

* [http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/bca/explore.cfm Digital version of Biologia Centrali-Americana]
* [http://www.zin.ru/Animalia/Coleoptera/eng/brithixx.htm ZinRu] Portrait photograph og Champion.