Louise M. Russell (May 6, 1905 – May 15, 2009) was a US Department of Agriculture entomologist renowned for her expertise in insect identification and research on using parasites for biocontrol.
[2][3] In 1927 she began working for the US Department of Agriculture as a laboratory assistant, mounting scale insects.
[4] She determined thousands of aphid, psyllid, whitefly, and scale insect specimens for use in quarantine programs, pest control, regulatory entomology, and systematics research, and clarified numerous aphid species identification and nomenclatural problems, many involving agricultural pests.
[1][4] An active member of the Biological Society of Washington, the Entomological Society of Florida, and the Washington Academy of Sciences,[4] she also spent much time helping others, including serving on graduate student committees as an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University.
[4] Russell formally retired in 1975 at the federal government's mandatory retirement age of 70 with 48 years of government service, but continued to work over the following 25 years without pay as a collaborator with the USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory.