Oskar Bottger
Oskar Böttger (born March 31, 1844 in Frankfurt am Main ; † September 25, 1910 ibid) was a German herpetologist , paleontologist and malacologist who played a key role in developing the Senckenberg Museum into one of the world's leading research centers in the field of herpetology .
Live and act
Already at a young age, Böttger developed a fascination for paleontology. In 1863 he began studying at a Frankfurt university, but soon afterwards he switched to the Freiberg Mining Academy in Saxony to become a mining engineer . Since he could not find a job after his graduation in 1866 due to the tense political situation, he studied paleontology at the University of Würzburg , where he obtained his Ph.D. received his doctorate. He then worked as a teacher, first in Offenbach and finally in Frankfurt am Main.
In 1870 Böttger worked at the Senckenberg Museum, initially as a paleontologist and from 1875 in the herpetological department, where he initially worked on a voluntary basis. In 1876 he became a curator. In the same year he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . Until 1894, however, he carried out his research work from his apartment, as he could no longer enter the museum due to an agoraphobia diagnosed in him . Finally, a relative managed to break the spell and free Böttger from his anxiety disorder, whereupon he resumed his activities as a teacher and curator and ultimately went on expeditions overseas. His most productive phase, however, was during his isolation, when assistants brought each sample to his home for examination.
The herpetological department of the Senckenberg Museum was founded by Eduard Rüppell , who was known for his expeditions to northeastern Africa, and whose herpetological catalog in 1845 included 370 species. At the end of Böttger's curatorship, the number of species had risen to 1436, which he found in the “Catalog of the Batrachier Collection in the Museum of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society in Frankfurt am Main” (1892) and in the two-volume “Catalog of the Reptile Collection in the Museum of the Senckenberg Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main ”(1893 and 1898). This collection contained a large number of type specimens. Böttger received most of the new acquisitions, more than 200, from business friends or former students who traveled the world and sent him samples and stamps.
Böttger's research interests were cosmopolitan . They included the herpetofauna of the Mediterranean islands, southwest Africa and the Congo area, Madagascar, China, the Philippines, and Central and South America. He described many new genera and species - a research program roughly comparable to that of George Albert Boulenger . Böttger worked on the species level as well as in the field of taxonomy and he published faunistic catalogs for remote, little-known regions of the world. In addition, he pursued strictly scientific interests. In 1892 Böttger was co-author of the herpetological volume of Brehms Tierleben .
Böttger was the son of the chemist Rudolf Christian Böttger and the uncle of the zoologist Caesar-Rudolf Böttger .
Taxa described by Böttger
Böttger described 90 species of reptiles and numerous amphibian taxa .
He also studied mollusks , including snails species Lampedusa and Megalophaedusa he erstbeschrieb 1877 and beetles . Its collections can mainly be found in the Senckenberg Museum, but also in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff .
Dedication names
- Anolis boettgeri , a lizard from the Dactyloidae family
- Atractus boettgeri , a species of South American snake
- Testudo hermanni boettgeri ( subspecies of the Greek tortoise )
- Xenophrys boettgeri , a species of Asian tortoise
- Calumma boettgeri , a Malagasy chameleon
- Cacosternum boettgeri , a frog owl
- Striped Canary Island Gecko ( Tarentola boettgeri )
- Böttger's dwarf clawed frog ( Hymenochirus boettgeri ), an African frog
- Argonauta boettgeri , a type of paper boat (now considered a synonym of Argonauta hians )
- Sarcophyton boettgeri , a leather coral of the genus Sarcophyton .
- Rena Boettgeri
- Sinomicrurus japonicus boettgeri
- Phrynocephalus raddei boettgeri
- Emoia boettgeri
- Madatyplops boettgeri
- Micrelaps boettgeri
- Stenocerces boettgeri
- Trachylepis boettgeri
- Zonosaurus boettgeri
George Albert Boulenger named four species after him: Anolis boettgeri , Atractus boettgeri , Cacosternum boettgeri , Xenophrys boettgeri
literature
- Kraig Adler: Contributions to the History of Herpetology, Society for the study of amphibians and reptiles, 1989, pp. 56-57
- Jean Lescure, Bernard Le Garff: L'étymologie des noms d'amphibiens et de reptiles . Éditions Belin, 2006, ISBN 2-7011-4142-7
- F. Haas: Prof. Dr. Oskar Boettger died on September 25, 1910. In: Annual reports and communications of the Upper Rhine Geological Association - Volume 1, 1911, pp. 19-20
- Robert Mertens: Boettger, Oskar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 410 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Literature by and about Oskar Böttger in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
- Boettger, Oskar. Hessian biography. (As of June 23, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Böttger, Oskar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Boettger, Oskar; Boettger, Oscar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German herpetologist, paleontologist and malacologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 31, 1844 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frankfurt am Main |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 25, 1910 |
| Place of death | Frankfurt am Main |