Arnoldo de Winkelried Bertoni

• Born — 28 December 1878 • Birthplace — Lottigna, Blenio District, Switzerland • Died — 1878 August 1973 • Place of death — Asunción, Paraguay • Other Names — Arnaldo de Winkelried • Occupation — zoologist

He was better known as Arnaldo de Winkelried, his name given in honor of the Swiss soldier Arnold von Winkelried who died at the Battle of Sempach in 1386. In 1887, he emigrated to Paraguay along with his family. He first began studying zoology with his father, the naturalist Moisés Santiago Bertoni in the neighborhood of Guillermo Tell, now called Puerto Bertoni in the Alto Paraná Department of Paraguay, along the Paraná River. Between 1903 and 1906, he served as a professor of zootechnics and zoology at the School of Agriculture and Model Farm, which was opened in 1897 with his father as its director. In 1917, he decided to leave Puerto Bertoni and together with his brother Guillermo Tell they travelled to Asunción where he began to work on his own scientific research, investigating the Paraguayan fauna, chiefly insects (Eumeninae, Polistinae, Masarinae, Sphecinae and Trigonalidae), as well as vertebrates, especially birds. He also made contributions in paleontology and archaeology. From 1930 to 1940, he was a professor of zoology, zootechnics, entomology, and plant pathology at the Escuela Superior de Agricultura and at the Escuela Nacional de Agricultura Mariscal Estigarribia. He was a founding member of the Guaraní Academy of Science and Culture.