Johann Carl Megerle von Mühlfeld
Encyclopedia
Johann Carl Megerle von Mühlfeld was a scientist and zoologist who lived from 1765 to 1840.
He worked at the Vienna
natural history museum, the Naturhistorisches Museum
, Wien, until he retired at the end of 1835.http://musmin.geo.uniroma1.it/sito_ita/area-black/raphael/musees%5Cvienne%5CMUSVIEe.htm.
He took care of the minerals and part of the Mollusc Collection, working with Andreas Xaverius Stütz. They carried out a task that all the other co-workers had avoided until then, which was the inventory-taking of specimens from the geosphere.
Mergerle von Mühlfeld organized the Natural History Collection and became a custodian in 1797. In 1806 the museum purchased his collection of European insects, and he became the first curator of insects. He organised the purchase of the Gundian collection of European butterflies.
The old collections, including his specimens, were destroyed in October 1848 during a Hofburg fire.
Among the taxa Mergerle von Mühlfeld described are:
The brachiopod
genus Megerlia King, 1850 is probably named after him, as well as the odostomiine
snail
species Odostomia megerlei
Locard, 1886.
His manuscripts are held at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.http://handschriften.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/de/nachlaesse_autographen/nachlassliste.html
He worked at the Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
natural history museum, the Naturhistorisches Museum
Naturhistorisches Museum
The Naturhistorisches Museum Wien or NHMW is a large museum located in Vienna, Austria.The collections displayed cover , and the museum has a website providing an overview as a video virtual tour....
, Wien, until he retired at the end of 1835.http://musmin.geo.uniroma1.it/sito_ita/area-black/raphael/musees%5Cvienne%5CMUSVIEe.htm.
He took care of the minerals and part of the Mollusc Collection, working with Andreas Xaverius Stütz. They carried out a task that all the other co-workers had avoided until then, which was the inventory-taking of specimens from the geosphere.
Mergerle von Mühlfeld organized the Natural History Collection and became a custodian in 1797. In 1806 the museum purchased his collection of European insects, and he became the first curator of insects. He organised the purchase of the Gundian collection of European butterflies.
The old collections, including his specimens, were destroyed in October 1848 during a Hofburg fire.
Among the taxa Mergerle von Mühlfeld described are:
- Melolontha pectoralis, a kind of cockchafer beetle
- The bivalve genera Angulus, ChioneChione (genus)Chione is a genus of tropical American marine bivalve molluscs, in the family Veneridae.-Species:* Chione amathusia * Chione californiensis W. J. Broderip, 1835 - California venus, Banded venus...
and CorbiculaCorbiculaCorbicula is a genus of freshwater and brackish water clams, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the family Corbiculidae, the basket clams.The genus name is derived from Latin corbis "basket", referring to the shape and ribs of the shell....
, all in 1811 - The snail species Helix perspectiva in 1816 (now known as Discus perspectivusDiscus perspectivusDiscus perspectivus is a species of small air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Discidae, the disk snails.- Distribution :This species occurs in:* Czech Republic...
).
The brachiopod
Brachiopod
Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection...
genus Megerlia King, 1850 is probably named after him, as well as the odostomiine
Odostomiinae
Odostomiinae, Odostomia snails and their allies, is a taxonomic subfamily of minute parasitic sea snails. These are marine heterobranch gastropod mollusks, or micromollusks, in the family Pyramidellidae.-Taxonomy:...
snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
species Odostomia megerlei
Odostomia megerlei
Odostomia megerlei is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pyramidellidae, the pyrams and their allies.-Distribution:This species occurs in the following locations:* European waters...
Locard, 1886.
His manuscripts are held at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.http://handschriften.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/de/nachlaesse_autographen/nachlassliste.html
Further reading
- Megerle von Mühlfeld, J.C. (1816). Beschreibung einiger neuen Conchylien. Magazin der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 8(1):4.