Władysław Taczanowski was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 zoologist.

Life

A member of an old noble (szlachta

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

) magnate

Magnate

Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...

 family from the Poznań

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

 region, Taczanowski

Taczanowski

Taczanowski is the surname of a Polish szlachta family from Poznań bearing the Jastrzębiec Coat of Arms and the motto: Plus penser que dire. They took their name from their estate Taczanów in the 15th century and by the 19th century were among the leading magnates in partitioned-Poland...

 is considered one of the most important European zoologists of the nineteenth century. Trained in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he worked at museums in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London and was curator of the zoological department of the Warsaw University Museum from 1862 (when he succeeded Feliks Paweł Jarocki) until his death. Taczanowski took part in an expedition to Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

 with Antoni S. Waga (1866-67) and wrote several significant studies including Birds of Poland (1882) and Ornithology of Peru (1884-86).

Species named after him include the Taczanowski's Tinamou

Taczanowski's Tinamou

The Taczanowski's Tinamou, Nothoprocta taczanowskii, is a type of ground bird found in the eastern Andes in Peru; Junín, Cuzco, Apurímac, Ayacucho, and Puno Regions.-Taxonomy:...

, the Junin Flightless Grebe

Junin Flightless Grebe

The Junín Grebe, Junin Flightless Grebe or Puna Grebe, Podiceps taczanowskii, is a grebe found only on Lake Junin in the highlands of Junin, west-central Peru. Restricted to Lake Junín;breeding of the species generally occurs in bays & channels in outer sector of the Lake,within 8-75m of...

 (Podiceps taczanowskii), the Mountain Paca

Mountain Paca

The Mountain Paca is a small burrow-dwelling rodent whose habitats are high altitude South American forests. Pacas are nocturnal, sedentary, and solitary animals with territorial tendencies. It eats mostly fruits and seeds...

 (Agouti taczanowskii) and Taczanowski's Gudgeon (Ladislavia taczanowskii).

Other works

• "Les Aranéides de la Guyane française," Horae Societatis entomologicae Rossicae (1871)
• "Les Aranéides de la Guyane française," Horae Societatis entomologicae Rossicae (1873)
• "Les Aranéides du Pérou. Famille des Attidés" (1879)

External links

• http://salticidae.org/salticid/diagnost/0-author/taczanowski.htm (has a picture)
• http://home.rochester.rr.com/thecaiques/classic_caique_articles.htm (has more details of his work)