Ezra Townsend Cresson (18 June 1838, in Byberry – 19 April 1926, in Swarthmore) was an American entomologist who specialized in the Hymenoptera order of insects.
He wrote Synopsis of the families and genera of the Hymenoptera of America, north of Mexico Philadelphia: Paul C. Stockhausen, Entomological printer (1887) and many other works.
Cresson also documented many new species including Nomada texana.
In 1859, Cresson founded the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, together with James Ridings and George Newman.
[1] Two of his sons, George Bringhurst Cresson (1859–1919) and Ezra Townsend Cresson, Jr. (1876–1948), were also entomologists and members of the American Entomological Society.