Ignacio Bolívar

Who was Ignacio Bolívar?

Ignacio Bolívar y Urrutia was a Spanish naturalist and entomologist, and one of the founding fathers of Spanish entomology. He helped found the Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural in 1871, and was the author of several books and of over 1000 species.

After the Spanish Civil War he was exiled to Mexico when the nationalist government harshly repressed Republican militants and sympathisers, as retaliation for the equally harsh repression of clergy and nationalist militants on the opposite side. Here he was made Doctor honoris of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In Mexico he was devoted mainly to entomology. In this field he wrote more than 300 books and monographs and discovered more than thousand new species and about 200 genera.

He also encouraged other naturalists to study entomology, José María de la Fuente being one example.

Bolívar founded the journal Ciencia. His more important works include:- Ortópteros de España nuevos o poco conocidos and Catálogo sinóptico de los ortópteros de la fauna ibérica.