Frederick Valentine Melsheimer
Frederick Valentine Melsheimer | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 25, 1749 |
| Died | June 30, 1814 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship | American |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Entomology |
| Institutions | Religious minister |
The Reverend Frederick Valentine Melsheimer (September 25, 1749, Negenborn, Brunswick – June 30, 1814, Hanover, Pennsylvania) was a Lutheran clergyman and early American entomologist, called the "Father of American Entomology" by successor Thomas Say. He was the author of the first major entomological work in the United States: A Catalogue of Insects of Pennsylvania (1806), a sixty-page work that describes 1,363 species of beetles.