This article originally ran in Wednesday Journal in March, 1993.
When asked if the widespread tendency to refer to insects as “bugs” distresses him, eminent entomologist Rupert Wenzel shrugs. “Nope,” he says. “There are some insects actually called ‘true bugs,’ so it doesn’t bother me. I know what they’re getting at.”
Such equanimity seems typical for Wenzel, whose active career at the Field Museum of Natural History spanned 40 years. Even now, 13 years after his official retirement, the curator emeritus of insects still keeps regular hours at the museum, where he oversees the computerization of data about the museum’s vast insect collection, which numbers some 9.5 million specimens.
Wenzel, a resident of Oak Park, first developed an interest in insects while studying them in high school, which he says is not unusual. “I think a lot of kids get their first interest in a high school biology class?#34;I know I did. Learning the important process of observing, collecting and identifying for the first time can be very exciting,” he says.
That excitement and love of discovery have apparently never left Wenzel, even after more than a half-century spent in the ceaseless pursuit of knowledge, not to mention bugs. He says, “In entomology, we’re still only scratching the surface because insects are so poorly known. People always want to know how many species of insects there are. I tell them our best guess right now is about one million species, many thousands of which haven’t been described. We don’t even have a catalog yet for most groups of insects.”
Wenzel and his peers exult in the fact that between 5,000 and 10,000 new insect species are discovered every year. The potential for making major scientific contributions is one of the field’s prime attractions.
In contrasting entomology with related disciplines, Wenzel says, “You have more elbow room in entomology than in many other fields. There are maybe 25 people throughout the world working on a whole family of beetles, whereas in mammals, you have hundreds of thousands of people working on just one class. In mammalogy, it’s a big deal to discover one new species. In entomology, that’s literally an everyday occurrence.”
Wenzel has indeed made a significant contribution to entomology. For the record, he has described (discovered) “several hundred” species. He also notes, with a trace of embarrassment, that many more species bear his name, having been named after him by the colleagues and students who described them.
Wenzel is recognized as a leading authority in several areas, among them the classification and biogeography of histerid beetles and batflies. He is such an expert on the control of certain parasites, in fact, that he was decorated in 1967 by President Robles of Panama for his work on an 800-page tome, Ectoparasites of Panama. The book proved quite useful in making a decision on whether or not to reroute the Panama Canal.
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Nor was the Panamanian field work Wenzel’s first exposure to the vagaries of human-insect interaction in the tropics. In World War II, Wenzel led a malaria survey unit in Brazil, eventually attaining the rank of major. “The war really depleted American museums of their entomologists?#34;almost all my colleagues were in the field because the government realized how crucial insect control was. There were over 200 American malaria survey units in action during the war, and they were almost all headed by entomologists,” he says.
In 1944, Brazil was vulnerable to a recurrence of a particularly virulent strain of malaria that had originally come from Africa in the 1930s. Although malaria was under control by then, Allied planes flying back to Brazil from African missions were again inadvertently transporting the culprit, a particular species of mosquito.
“Those mosquitos were everywhere?#34;larvae in the water tanks, adults on the plane, you name it,” says Wenzel, who was responsible for monitoring all returning planes and spraying infected ones. “There had been a terrible epidemic of malaria in Egypt, and we were deeply concerned. I finally got the OK to fine any pilot $500 who opened his window without authorization. It seemed to do the trick.”
In Wenzel’s opinion, wartime insect control is of paramount importance, regardless of the dimensions or location of the conflict. “Wars are determined more by each side’s success in controlling insect-borne disease than what happens on the battlefield,” he maintains, adding that the reason the Allies ultimately prevailed in Guadalcanal was that their malaria control forces were much more effective than their Japanese counterparts.
Wenzel also ran a cooperative DDT evaluation with the Brazillian government. While wholesale outdoor spraying was ultimately banned, selective indoor spraying was favored. “Thanks to DDT, we went from hundreds of thousands of new cases of malaria annually during the 1940s to 20-25 insect-borne cases annually in the 1970s,” he says. Nonetheless, he was sufficiently concerned about the chemical’s safety to successfully convince the Oak Park board of trustees to stop its use within the village.
Similarly, Wenzel thinks caution should be exercised in evaluating the current generation of herbicides. “On the whole, people have good reason to be concerned, but it is very easy to go overboard. Many herbicides are perfectly legitimate and safe when used properly and in small amounts by knowledgeable experts?#34;that’s the key. The introduction of [offending insects’] natural predators is always best, but sometimes it just doesn’t work,” he says.
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Wenzel’s professional and intellectual accomplishments are clearly substantial, and his pride in them is evident. In many ways, however, his civic achievements are even more important to him; he was a village trustee during some very turbulent years (1961 to 1969). As chair of the village’s Committee on Zoning, Building, Housing and Planning from 1965-1969, Wenzel was instrumental in passing the village’s open house ordinance, a source of immense pride. “It was a long, bruising process which alienated many otherwise good people, but in the end we prevailed. It was even worth undergoing a serious death threat,” he now says.
He still serves the village today as a longstanding member of the forestry commission, freely offering his expertise in Dutch Elm disease control. “The beetles involved in that are similar to my beetles, so I am very familiar with the disease and the mechanics of transmission. I’m pleased I was able to help the village set up its control program,” he states.
Wenzel insists that, popular perceptions to the contrary, Oak Park’s civic health is much rosier than it has been for much of the village’s past, especially the years immediately following World War II. “I’m very proud of the community service aspects of my career, and in retrospect, the eight years I served the village as a trustee were among the most satisfying of my life,” he says.