Victor Ivanovitsch Motschulsky - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Victor Ivanovitsch Motschulsky (Sometimes Victor von Motschulsky, , 11 April 1810 St. Petersburg - 5 June 1871 Simferopol

Simferopol

-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...

) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n entomologist mainly interested in beetles.

Motschulsky was an Imperial Army

Military history of Imperial Russia

The Military history of the Russian Empire encompasses the history of armed conflict in which the Empire participated. This history stretches from its creation in 1721 by Peter the Great, until the Russian Revolution , which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union...

colonel who undertook extended trips abroad. He studied and described many new beetles from Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, the United States of America, 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...

, and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. Whilst he tended to ignore previous work and his own work on classification was of poor quality, Motschulsky made a massive contribution to entomology, exploring hitherto unworked regions, often in very difficult terrain. He 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...

, a high proportion of which remain valid.

Travels

Motschulsky’s travels included:

1836 - France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

and the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

, northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

and Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

1839-1840 - Russian Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

, Astrakhan

Astrakhan

Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...

, Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

and Siberia

Siberia

1847 - Khirgizia

1850-1851 - Germany

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...

, Austria

Austria

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, France

France

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

and Dalmatia

Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

1853 - United States of America, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, returning to St. Ptersburg via Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

1853 - Germany

Germany

, Switzerland

Switzerland

and Austria

Austria

Works

Motschulsky has 45 published works, mostly on biogeographic, faunistic, or systematic aspects of entomology. Many of these works are based on studies of insect collections that were created by a large number of other naturalists, especially Russians who had been to Siberia

Siberia

. Most of his works are on Coleoptera, but some are on 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...

and Hemiptera

Hemiptera

Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...

.

A selection of more important works revealing Motschulsky's scope:

Insectes de la Sibérie rapportés d'un voyage fait en 1839 et 1840. Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 13: 1-274. (1845)
Die Kaefer Russlands. I. Insecta Carabica. Moscow: Gautier, vii + 91 pp. + 9 tables. (1850).
Coléoptères nouveaux de la Californie. Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, 32: 122-185 (1859).
Études entomologiques. 10 volumes (1852-61 ).
Catalogue des insectes rapportés des environs du fleuve Amour, dépuis la Schilka jusqu'à Nikolaevsk. Bulletin de la Société Naturaliste de Moscou 32:487-507 (1859)
Coléoptères rapportés de la Songarie par M. Semenov et décrits par V. de Motchoulski. Bulletin de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg 1(5):301-304 (1859).
Insectes de Indes Orientales, et de contrées analogues. Études entomologiques 8(1859):25-118 (1860).
Coléoptères rapportés en 1859 par M. Sévertsef des steppes méridionales des Kirghises et énumérés. Bulletin de l’Académie Imperiale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg 2:513-544, 2 plates (1860)..
Coleoptères rapportés en 1859 par M. Severtsef des Steppes méridionales des Kirghises. Mélanges biologiques, 3 (1857-1861):408-452 (1860).
Coléoptères rapportés de la Songarie par M. Semenov et décrits par V. de Motchoulski. Mélanges biologiques 3:290-309 (1860)
Motschulsky, V. I.. Coléoptères de la Sibérie orientale et en particulier des rives de l'Amour. In: Schrenk’s Reisen und Forschungen im Amurlande 2:77-257, 6 color plates, St. Petersburg (1861).
Essai d'un Catalogue des Insectes de l'île Ceylan. Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 34(1):95-155 (1861).
Catalogue des insectes reçus du Japon. Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 39(1):163-200 (1866).

Collection

Motschulsky's vast collection is divided between Moscow State University

Moscow State University

Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...

, the Zoological Museum of Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, the Humboldt Museum

Humboldt Museum

The Museum für Naturkunde, officially the ' or Naturkundemuseum , occasionally known as the Humboldt Museum, is a natural history museum in Berlin, Germany. Usually the museum's name is abbreviated MFN...

and the German Entomological Institute.

Sources

Essig, E.O.

Edward Oliver Essig

Edward Oliver Essig was an American entomologist who specialised in Hemiptera.Essig was a professor at the University of California.He wrote Injurious and Beneficial Insects of California , Insects of Western North America , A History of Entomology , College Entomology and several hundred...

, 1972. A History of Entomology. Hafner Publishing Co., New York. 1,029 pp.

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