Wheeler was trained as an insectembryologist, having studied under Baur, Dohrn and Whitman, but became the leading authority on behaviour of social insects, with particular distinction being achieved in the field of ants . He took particular interest in the evolution of social behaviour in ants. He was instrumental in the development of ethology and first popularized the term in a 1902 paper in Science.
He was a taxonomist of the highest order, and was responsible for the descriptions of innumerable species.
Wheeler was trained as an insect embryologist, having studied under Baur, Dohrn and Whitman, but became the leading authority on behaviour of social insects, achieving particular renown for his studies of social behaviour of ants.
Professor Wheeler was curator of invertebrate zoology in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, from 1903 to 1908.
Donisthorpe and Wheeler also frequently exchanged specimens, leading the latter to first develop the idea that the Formicinaesubfamily had its origins in North America.
When Wheeler completed his undergraduate work at the Rice Institute in 1918, he enlisted in the army and was sent to the Yale Army Laboratory School.
Wheeler kept in touch with three of his undergraduate professors from the Rice Institute - Huxley, Muller and Davies - during and well after his graduation.
In this scrapbook, Wheeler kept photographs of the biology staff, field trips and the campus, as well as newspaper and magazine clippings and memorabilia from social events.
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