Jacob Hübner was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 entomologist. He was the author of Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology.

Scientific career

Hübner was the author of Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology

Entomology

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

. He was one of the first specialists to work on the Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

. He described many new species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, for example Sesia bembeciformis

Sesia bembeciformis

The Lunar Hornet Moth is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found in Europe.The wingspan is 32-42 mm. The length of the forewings is 15-19 mm. The moth flies from June to August depending on the location....

and Euchloe tagis, many of them common. He also described many new genera

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 and species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

.

He was a designer

Designer

A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

 and engraver and from 1786 he worked for three years as a designer and engraver at a cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 factory in the Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. There he collected butterflies including descriptions and illustrations of some in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Schmetterlinge (1786-1790) along with other new species from the countryside around his home in Augsberg.

Hübner's masterwork “Tentamen” was intended as a discussion document. Inadvertently published, it led to subsequent confusion in classification. His publications were issued in sections, some after his death, often without associated publication dates. Arthur Francis Hemming

Arthur Francis Hemming

Arthur Francis Hemming was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He was mostly known, both professionally and socially, as Francis Hemming.Hemming was a British civil servant and amateur lepidopterist...

, Secretary of the International Commission of Zoologial Nomenclature, summarized all the citations of Hübner’s proposed taxonomic names, thereby constraining the possible dates of publication leading to the acceptance of Hübner's works as valid taxonomic publications.

Works

• 1786-1790: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Schmetterlinge ["Contributions to the history of butterflies"], Augsburg
• 1793: Sammlung auserlesener Vögel und Schmetterlinge, mit ihren Namen herausgegeben auf hundert nach der Natur ausgemalten Kupfern ["Collection of choice birds and butterflies, issued with included names on 100 naturally colored copperplate prints"]
• 1796-1805: Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge ["Collection of European butterflies"]
• 1806: Tentamen determinationis, digestionis atque denominationis singularum singularum stirpium Lepidopterorum, peritis ad inspiciendum et dijudicandum communicatum ["Preliminary examination, an attempt to fix, arrange and name the individual races of Lepidoptera to experts for examination and the expression of an opinion"]
• 1806-1824: Geschichte europäischer Schmetterlinge ["History of European butterflies"]
• 1806-1834 (with C. Geyer
  Carl Geyer
  Carl Geyer was a German entomologist who wrote and illustrated various supplements to Jacob Hübner s works on Lepidoptera.Carl Geyer was , by profession an artist. He is not to be confused with Charles Andreas Geyer , a botanist and plant collector.-References:*Evenhuis, N. L. 1997 Litteratura...
  
   and G.A.W. Herrich-Schäffer
  Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer
  Dr Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer was a German entomologist and physician. He was born, and died, in Regensburg. Herrich-Schäffer studied and collected particularly butterflies and moths...
  
  ): Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge ["Collection of exotic butterflies"] (2 vols.), Augsburg
• 1822: Systematisch-alphabetisches Verzeichnis aller bisher bey den Fürbildungen zur Sammlung europäischer Schmetterlinge angegebenen Gattungsbenennungen ["Systematic-alphabetic directory of all genus names hitherto issued with the depictions of European butterflies"]

External links

• Biolib Stueber Scans of Nachtschmetterlinge