Ricardo García Mercet facts for kids
Ricardo García Mercet (born August 16, 1860 – died May 12, 1933) was an important Spanish naturalist and entomologist. Naturalists study nature, and entomologists are scientists who study insects.
Ricardo García Mercet was a pharmacist in the Spanish military. He was also a very active member of many scientific groups. He belonged to the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences. He was also the President of the Spanish Society of Natural History (Sociedad Española de Historia Natural). He served as the Secretary General for the Spanish Association for the Progress of Science (Asociación Española para el Progreso de las Ciencias). On top of all this, he was an honorary member of insect study societies in Egypt and Chile.
Studying Insects
Ricardo García Mercet spent a lot of time studying insects. He was especially interested in a group of tiny wasps called Chalcidoidea. These wasps are often very small and play important roles in nature.
His amazing collections of these tiny wasps are still preserved today. You can find them in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain. Another part of his collection is kept in the Natural History Museum of Giacomo Doria in Genoa, Italy. These collections help scientists learn more about insects from the past.
Important Works
Ricardo García Mercet wrote a very important book about insects. In 1921, he published "Fauna ibérica Himenópteros, fam. encírtidos". This book focused on a specific family of wasps called Encyrtidae, which are part of the Chalcidoidea group. It was published by the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. This book helped other scientists understand the insects found in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).
