Robert Owen Wahl (sometimes Robert Owen-Wahl), entomologist, was the son of Robert Paul Loftus Wahl and his wife Marie Johanna, born Byers. He attended the South African College High School in Cape Town and passed the matriculation examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1906. Continuing his studies at the South African College he was awarded the BA degree with honours in zoology by the university in 1910. Soon after graduating he was appointed as lecturer in entomology and zoology at the Grootfontein School of Agriculture, near Middelburg in the Eastern Cape. At some time during the next few years he received a scholarship which enabled him to visit the United States. He was still at Grootfontein in 1918, but by 1924 was working for the Division of Entomology of the Department of Agriculture at Potchefstroom, where he was investigating the maize stalk borer. By that time he had also worked on infestations of weevils in the grain elevators of the South African Railways. During 1929-1931 he was stationed at Standerton.

Wahl published an article on 'Karakul sheep' in the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Union of South Africa (1920), two articles on 'The Maize-stalk borer, Busseola fusca, Fuller' in Farming in South Africa (1926, 1930), and a report on 'The importance of nest structure in the control of certain South African Termites with cyanogas calcium cyanide' (with A.R. Powell, 1927). He became a member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1913 and a foundation member of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa in 1937. He was married to Annie Lillian ('Mitsie') Brent, with whom he had a son and two daughters.

List of sources:

British 1820 settlers to South Africa. http://www.1820settlers.com Select 1820 settler genealogies; search for Owen-Wahl, Robert.

Google Scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za Publications by R.O. Wahl.

Lounsbury, C.P. The pioneer period of economic entomology in South Africa. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1940, Vol. 3, pp. 9-29.

Mansell, M.W. The Entomological Society of Southern Africa, a historical review. African Entomology, 1993, Vol. 1(1), pp. 109-120.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Robert Owen Wahl / R.O. Wahl.

Ritchie, W. The history of the South African College, 1829-1918. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller, 1918.

Robert Owen Wahl. FamilySearch. Retrieved on 31 March 2021 from https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L5D4-RPR/robert-owen-wahl-1888-1963

Smit, B. A further chapter in the history of entomology in South Africa. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 1960, Vol. 23, pp. 3-15.

South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Report, 1918, list of members.

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1907/8, 1911/2, 1916/7, 1917/8.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-02-16 10:05:40