Arthur Mangun Banta (1877–1946) was an American zoologist and professor known for his studies on cave animals.
[2] He earned a bachelor of science degree from Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, in 1898, after which he was high school principal in Needham until 1901.
He then entered Harvard University, receiving a Ph.D. in 1907, and was professor of biology at Marietta College from 1907 to 1909.
From 1909 to 1930, he was investigator at the Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in which he used an artificial cave beneath the main laboratory to study the genetics and adaptations of cave animals, especially Cladocera (water fleas).
[4] On July 26, 1906 he was married to Mary Charlotte Slack, and they had three children: James Jerry, Ruth, and Leah Margaret.