Enrique Beltrán (biologist)

Enrique Beltrán Castillo (Mexico City, April 26, 1903 – October 23, 1994) was a Mexican biologist and botanist who published numerous articles on natural resources and their conservation; protozoa, history of science, its social and educational aspects.

In 1932, Beltrán received a Guggenheim Fellowship "to consult the oceanographic archives of the United States and to study protozoology at Columbia University.

He was the author of books such as Biology course for secondary school, Biology practices, The natural resources of the southeast and their use and Half a century of Mexican sciences.

Since 1952 he stood out as director of the Mexican Institute of Renewable Natural Resources. In addition, he was internationally recognized for his research on exotic animals, mainly the basilisk and the hive, among others.

Eponymy

His work is so important that Mexican and foreign biologists have classified 16 species with his last name, among them:

• (Asteraceae) Centaurea × beltrani (Pau) White 1982
• (Asteraceae) Acosta × beltranii (Pau) Fern.Casas & Susanna 1982
• (Cactaceae) Notocactus beltranii (Frič ex Z.Fleisch. & Schütz) G.Schäf. 1980
• (Crassulaceae) Aeonium × beltranii Bañares 1986
• (Gesneriaceae) Besleria beltranii I. Salts 2008