The photo of the little brown moth Jon Gelhaus, curator of entomology at the Academy of Natural Sciences, came across in a book a few months ago didn’t look like much. Its name, however — Datana drexelii — definitely rang a bell.
After some research, Gelhaus learned that the moth was named for Joseph Drexel in the late 1800s for his support of entomology. The discovery proved to Gelhaus, also a professor of environmental science at Drexel University, that the histories of the University and the Academy had been linked for much longer than the affiliation between the two formed in 2011.
Joseph Drexel was the brother of Drexel University’s founder, Anthony J. Drexel. A well-known banker and philanthropist like his brother, Joseph Drexel was also an avid collector of books and music. Both brothers were members of the Academy of Natural Sciences.
British-born actor and entomologist Henry Edwards named Drexel’s Datana moth in Joseph Drexel’s honor in 1883. Presenting the formal scientific description of the moth and its species name before the Linnaean Society of New York, Edwards said the honor was as thanks for “doing much to foster a love for the study of entomology among us.”