William Steel Creighton


William Steel Creighton was an American myrmecologist and taxonomist. His work focused on ants of North America, including an extensive revision of their systematics published in 1950.

Family

W. S. Creighton was the son of John Harvey Creighton and Ethel Steel Creighton.

Academic career

Creighton obtained a batchelor's degree from Roanoke College in 1924, a M. S. degree from Princeton University in 1926 and a D. Sc. degree from Harvard University in 1930. While working with the entomologist Frank Eugene Lutz in 1926, he became interested in the study of ants and continued his studies under William Morton Wheeler, one of the leading authorities in myrmecology. In 1931 Creighton joined the Department of Biology at the City College of New York where he stayed until his retirement as professor emeritus in February 1962.

Awards

In 1951 Creighton was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of Organismic Biology & Ecology.