Robert Mertens

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Robert Friedrich Wilhelm Mertens (1 December 1894 – 23 August 1975) was a German

Mertensian mimicry
.

Mertens was born in

University of Leipzig in 1915.[1] During World War I he served in the German army.[1]

Mertens worked at the

Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt for many years, beginning as an assistant in 1919, and retiring as director emeritus in 1960.[1] He also became a lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1932, and became a Professor there in 1939.[1] Both jobs provided him with ample time for extensive travel and the study of lizards. He collected specimens in 30 countries.[1]

During World War II, he evacuated most of the collections of the Senckenberg Museum to small towns.[1] He also had German soldiers who were fighting overseas collect and ship specimens to him.[1]

He was the author of several books on zoology, including La Vie des Amphibiens et Reptiles (1959). Mertens described at least 64 reptile species,[2] and numerous amphibian species.[3]

Nine species and two subspecies of reptiles have been named after Mertens:

Varanus mertensi (Mertens' water monitor). Also Vanderhorstia mertensi
(Mertens' shrimp goby) has been named after him.

Mertens died after being bitten while feeding his pet savanna twigsnake,

Thelotornis capensis.[1] Because no applicable antivenom existed at that time, he suffered for 18 days before dying.[1] He kept a diary of his deteriorating condition, noting that it was the "für einen Herpetologen einzig angemessene Ende" (the only appropriate demise for a herpetologist).[1]

The death of Robert Mertens parallels that of another well known Herpetologist, Karl Patterson Schmidt, almost 20 years earlier. Each was a herpetologist, each was bitten by a venomous colubrid native to Africa, and each documented his symptoms until his death.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
    . ("Mertens", p. 176; "Robert", p. 223; "Robert Mertens", p. 223).
  2. ^ Reptile species described by Mertens, according to the Reptile Database.
  3. ^ Amphibian species described by Mertens, according to Amphibian Species of the World 6.0, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History.
  4. ^ Reptile species named after Mertens, according to the Reptile Database.
  5. ^ Reptile subspecies named after Mertens, according to the Reptile Database.

Further reading

  • Adler, Kraig (1989). Contributions to the History of Herpetology. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR).
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