Erich Wasmann

Erich Wasmann SJ (29 May 1859 in Merano − 27 February 1931 in Valkenburg, Netherlands) was an Austrian (born in South Tyrol) Jesuit priest and entomologist, specializing in ants and termites.

He described the phenomenon known as Wasmannian mimicry and became a prominent Catholic popularizer of science, grounded in Christian beliefs, around 1900.

Wasmann's reflections on evolution, while viewed with some concern by his Jesuit superiors, were popular among Catholics; he was invited to write an article on evolution for the American Catholic Encyclopedia.

[2][3] He was involved in a long-running dispute with Ernst Haeckel over Monism,[4] and was friends with Eberhard Dennert and Johannes Reinke, both of Protestant faith, who also opposed Haeckel and supported the Kepler Association.

Wasmann's collection of Formicidae, Isoptera, and myrmecophile and termitophile Coleoptera (especially Staphylinidae) is in the Maastricht Natural History Museum.