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Part of Plate XVII from Insecta Transvaaliensia

William Lucas Distant (November 12, 1845 - February 4, 1922) was an English entomologist.

Distant was born in Rotherhithe, the son of a whaling captain. A whaling trip with his father in 1867 to the Malay Peninsula aroused his interest in natural history, and resulted in the publication of Rhopalocera Malayana (1882-1886), a description of the butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. Much of Distant's early life was spent working in a London tannery, and whilst thus employed he made two long visits to the Transvaal which resulted firstly in the publication of A Naturalist in the Transvaal (1892). The second visit, of some four years, gave him time to amass a large collection of insects, of which many were described in Insecta Transvaaliensia (1900-1911). From 1899 to 1920 he was employed by the Natural History Museum, describing many new species found in their collection, and devoting most of his time to the Rhynchota.

His other works included Volume I of the Heteroptera and part of Volume I of the Homoptera of the Biologia Centrali-Americanum (1880-1900), and the Hemiptera volumes of the Fauna of British India (1902-1918). He was editor of The Zoologist magazine.

Distant's collection of 50,000 specimens was purchased by the Natural History Museum in 1920.

• Rhynchota : The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma
• Insecta transvaaliensia : A contribution to the entomology of South Africa
• A naturalist in the Transvaal
• A monograph of oriental Cicadidae
• Rhopalocera Malayana: A description of the butterflies of the Malay Peninsula
• Hemiptera
• Biologia centrali-americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Heteroptera
• Biologia centrali-americana
• Rhynchotal notes: Membracidae
• Rhynchota from New Caledonia and the surrounding islands
• A synonymic catalogue of Homoptera
• Homoptera. Fam. Cicadidae
• Scientific results of the second Yarkand mission : based on the collections and notes of the late Ferdinand Stoliczka : Rhynchota

• NDSU biographical information
• Image:Pycna sylvia00.png