Blasius Merrem

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Blasius Merrem
Born(1761-02-04)4 February 1761
Bremen, Germany
Died23 February 1824(1824-02-23) (aged 63)
Occupation(s)Naturalist, zoologist

Blasius Merrem (4 February 1761 – 23 February 1824) was a German

zoologist, ornithologist, mathematician, and herpetologist. In 1804, he became the professor of political economy and botany at the University of Marburg.[1]

Early life

Merrem was born at

Bremen, and studied at the University of Göttingen under Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He developed an interest in zoology, particularly ornithology
.

Ornithology

He is remembered chiefly as the first ornithologist to propose a division of birds into Ratitae (ratites or running birds, with a flat sternum) and Carinatae (carinates or flying birds, with a keeled sternum), which formed part of his classification of birds in Tentamen Systematis Naturalis Avium, published in Berlin in 1816 (in Abhandlugen Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1812–1813: Phys. Kl.).

Herpetology

Similarly, in his 1820 opus, Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, he was the first scientist to accurately separate

lizards, and to combine lizards and snakes in a single order.[2]

Merrem is honored in the scientific names of two South American snakes: the subspecies Erythrolamprus miliaris merremi, and the species Xenodon merremii.[2]

Works

  • De animalibus Scythicis apud Plinium (1781). (in Latin).
  • Vermischte Abhandlungen aus der Thiergeschichte (1781). (in German).
  • Beyträge zur besondern Geschichte der Vögel gesammelt (1784-1786). (in German).
  • Avium rariorum et minus cognitarum icones et descriptiones (1786). (in Latin).
  • Beitraege zur Naturgeschichte (1790-1821). (in German).
  • Reise nach Paris im August und September, 1798 (1800). (in German).
  • Index plantarum horti academici Marburgensis (1807). (in Latin).
  • Handbuch der Pflanzenkunde nach dem Linneischen System (1809). (in German).
  • Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien: Tentamen Systematis Amphibiorum (1820). (in German and Latin).

References

  1. ^ Quattrochi, Umberto (1999). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 1663.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
    . ("Merrem", p. 176).


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