José María Hugo de la Fuente Morales
Encyclopedia
José María Hugo de la Fuente Morales (1 April 1855 – 21 June 1932) was a Spanish
entomologist. Born in Pozuelo de Calatrava
, Ciudad Real
, Spain
, son of the Madrilenian
doctor Ildefonso de la Fuente Villanueva and Pozuelo de Calatrava native Anastasia Ramona Morales Hornero, he was the second of nine children, of whom only four would reach adulthood.
He began training as a priest studying Latin in Moral Calatrava and completed his studies in the seminaries of Toledo
and Jaén
. During breaks in these studies, he sent an insect, that he identified as Pycnogaster graellsi (an orthoptera
n), to Ignacio Bolivar Urrutia
, professor of entomology at the Central University
. Urrutia, after confirming Morales's accurate identification, sent three drawers of insects to him to encourage him in his investigations and so that he could identify new species that he might find. That excited the scientific sense of the young seminarist and ended with his becoming one of the European leaders of entomology.
He was a priest in Ciudad Real in 1879, and he moved to a Almagro
in 1888. There he dedicated himself to adding to his collection of reptiles and amphibians and composed a booklet of poetry that is conserved in the Museum of Ciudad Real. After about a year in Ciudad Real he became coassistant of the parish of San Bartholomew between 1890 and 1891. Finally he fulfilled his great desire, expressed in his poetry, to return as priest to his town, Pozuelo de Calatrava, where he was assigned permanently, and he began intensive entomological activity, for which he learned different languages in order to understand the specialized bibliography. There also he completed an important library specializing in entomology of more than four hundred volumes in several languages and an important collection of insects that is also conserved with other works in the Museum of Ciudad Real.
Two years later the Royal Spanish Society of Natural History arrived in Pozuelo to begin a collaboration. The first communication appeared in the Actas of 1893 , with the description of two new species of Orthoptera. A visit to the bath of Archena
in Murcia
because of his rheumatism led to his discovery of a great number of new species. In 1897 he began to publish Datos para la fauna de la provincia de Ciudad Real.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
entomologist. Born in Pozuelo de Calatrava
Pozuelo de Calatrava
Pozuelo de Calatrava is a municipality in Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 2,602....
, Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, with a population of c. 74,000. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid, located 115 miles to the north. A high capacity...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, son of the Madrilenian
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
doctor Ildefonso de la Fuente Villanueva and Pozuelo de Calatrava native Anastasia Ramona Morales Hornero, he was the second of nine children, of whom only four would reach adulthood.
He began training as a priest studying Latin in Moral Calatrava and completed his studies in the seminaries of Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
and Jaén
Jaén, Spain
Jaén is a city in south-central Spain, the name is derived from the Arabic word Jayyan, . It is the capital of the province of Jaén. It is located in the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. During breaks in these studies, he sent an insect, that he identified as Pycnogaster graellsi (an orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps...
n), to Ignacio Bolivar Urrutia
Ignacio Bolívar
Ignacio Bolívar y Urrutia was a Spanish naturalist and entomologist, and one of the founding fathers of Spanish entomology...
, professor of entomology at the Central University
Central University
Central University may mean:*National Central University, Taiwan*Nanjing University, former name*Central University , one of 22 government-designated central universities in India*Central University of Ecuador, the oldest university in Ecuador...
. Urrutia, after confirming Morales's accurate identification, sent three drawers of insects to him to encourage him in his investigations and so that he could identify new species that he might find. That excited the scientific sense of the young seminarist and ended with his becoming one of the European leaders of entomology.
He was a priest in Ciudad Real in 1879, and he moved to a Almagro
Almagro
Almagro may refer to:*Diego de Almagro , Spanish explorer*Diego Almagro II , assassin of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro*Nicolás Almagro , Spanish tennis player*Almagro, Buenos Aires...
in 1888. There he dedicated himself to adding to his collection of reptiles and amphibians and composed a booklet of poetry that is conserved in the Museum of Ciudad Real. After about a year in Ciudad Real he became coassistant of the parish of San Bartholomew between 1890 and 1891. Finally he fulfilled his great desire, expressed in his poetry, to return as priest to his town, Pozuelo de Calatrava, where he was assigned permanently, and he began intensive entomological activity, for which he learned different languages in order to understand the specialized bibliography. There also he completed an important library specializing in entomology of more than four hundred volumes in several languages and an important collection of insects that is also conserved with other works in the Museum of Ciudad Real.
Two years later the Royal Spanish Society of Natural History arrived in Pozuelo to begin a collaboration. The first communication appeared in the Actas of 1893 , with the description of two new species of Orthoptera. A visit to the bath of Archena
Archena
Archena is a municipality of Spain in the autonomous community and province of Murcia. It has a population of 16,707 and an area of 16.5 km². It is 24 km from the provincial capital, Murcia....
in Murcia
Murcia
-History:It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle , although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village...
because of his rheumatism led to his discovery of a great number of new species. In 1897 he began to publish Datos para la fauna de la provincia de Ciudad Real.
Works
- Catálogo sistemático-geográfico de los coleópteros observados en la Península Ibérica, Pirineos propiamente dichos y Baleares (1918–1932)
- Tablas analíticas para la clasificación de los coleópteros de la Península Ibérica. Barcelona: Imprenta Altés, 1927.
- La fauna de la provincia de Ciudad Real Ciudad Real: Tipografía del Hospicio Provincial, 1929.