Which English naturalist co-discovered natural selection alongside Charles Darwin?

Which English naturalist co-discovered natural selection alongside Charles Darwin? Alfred Russel Wallace did. In 1858, Wallace sent Darwin an essay outlining a theory of evolution by natural selection while Wallace was working in the Malay Archipelago. Darwin had independently developed a similar idea over many years, but Wallace’s letter prompted Darwin to present their ideas jointly to the Linnean Society of London.

Natural selection explains how heritable variations that improve survival or reproduction become more common over generations. Wallace reached the idea partly through observing geographic patterns in animals, especially across the Indonesian islands. His boundary between Asian and Australian fauna is still known as the Wallace Line.

A common mix-up is treating Darwin as the sole discoverer. Darwin became far more associated with the theory because of On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, but Wallace independently formulated the central mechanism. Wallace also made major contributions to biogeography, zoology, and studies of warning coloration and mimicry.