Étienne Léopold Trouvelot

Who was Étienne Léopold Trouvelot?

Étienne Léopold Trouvelot was a French artist, astronomer and amateur entomologist. He is most noted for the unfortunate introduction of the Gypsy Moth into North America.

He was born at Aisne, France. During his early years he was apparently involved in politics and had Republican leanings. Following a coup d'état by Louis Napoleon in 1852, he fled with his family to the United States. They settled in the town of Medford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, at the address of 27 Myrtle St. There he supported himself and his family as an artist.

Trouvelot had an interest as an amateur entomologist. In the U.S., silk-producing moths were being killed off from various diseases. Trouvelot was very interested in lepidoptera larvae including native N. American silk moths which he believed could potentially be used for silk production. For reasons that remain unknown, Trouvelot brought some Gypsy Moth eggmasses from Europe in the mid-1860s and was raising gypsy moth larvae in the forest behind his house. Unfortunately, some of the larvae escaped into the nearby woods. He immediately realized the potential problem he had caused and notified some nearby entomologists, but nothing was done.