Alexander Henry Haliday

Who was Alexander Henry Haliday?

Alexander Henry Haliday, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday and Alexis Heinrich Haliday sometimes Halliday, was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera and Thysanoptera, but Haliday worked on all insect orders and on many aspects of entomology.

Haliday was born in Holywood, County Down, Ireland. A boyhood friend of Robert Templeton, he divided his time between Ireland and Lucca, now part of Italy, where he was a co-founder with Camillo Rondani and Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti of the Italian Entomological Society. He was a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Belfast Natural History Society, a Member of the Microscopical Society of London a Member of the Galileiana Academy of Arts and Science and a Fellow of the Entomological Society of London.

With Hermann Loew, Alexander Haliday was among the greatest dipterists of the 19th century and one of the most renowned British entomologists of the day. His achievements were in four main fields: description, higher taxonomy, synonymy and biology. He erected many major taxa including the order Thysanoptera and the families Mymaridae and Ichneumonidae.