Albert Koebele (28 February 1853 - 28 December 1924) was an economic entomologist and a pioneer in the use of biological controls to manage insect pests.
Charles Valentine Riley, the noted federal entomologist, was impressed by these skills and offered Koebele a job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The following year Koebele traveled to Brazil where he studied cotton pests and collected a large number of insect specimens.
[3] Back in Washington, Riley had noted the curious fact that citrus trees in Australia were largely unaffected by the cottony cushion scale even though the insect was native to the region.
[3] The introduction of vedalia beetles to combat cottony cushion scale is generally recognized as the first instance of successful biological control.
Nevertheless, the growers pressured Riley to send Koebele on another expedition in 1891 to collect additional predatory insects from New Zealand, Australia and other Pacific islands.
For a time he continued to work for the planters' association, but poor health and then the outbreak of World War One forced him to remain in Germany.