Ernst Josef Fittkau

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Ernst Josef Fittkau , also Ernesto or Sepp Fittkau , (born July 22, 1927 in Neuhof, Braunsberg district , Warmia ; † May 12, 2012 in Munich ) was a German zoologist . He was head of the Munich State Zoological Collection and researched in particular the mosquitoes ( Chironomidae ) of the Amazon region.

Ernst Josef Fittkau with a caiman skull (Mohrenkaiman) collected by Spix

Life

Ernst Josef Fittkau was a son of the village teacher Hugo Fittkau and grew up in Warmia . One of his older brothers was Gerhard Fittkau (1912–2004), another was Hans Werner Fittkau (1913–2002), priest and cactus friend, later in Mexico. He was called up as a flak helper in the Navy , then for the Reich Labor Service and was a marine infantryman on the Eastern Front . After being a prisoner of war, he worked as a farm worker and from 1946 attended high school in Meppen / Ems. He worked at the Zoological Museum in Göttingen even before his studies . He studied biology in Freiburg and Kiel. He researched Chironomidae of the Fulda in Schlitz. Then he was an assistant at the Hydrobiological Institute of the Max Planck Society in Plön . He later worked with Lars Brundin (1907–1993) at the Rijksmuseum in Stockholm. In 1959 he received his doctorate on the Tanypodinae , a subfamily of the Chironomidae.

From 1960 to 1962 he conducted research on mosquitoes in Manaus (Brazil). Even after his return to Plön, he continued to work on the systematics and morphology of the Chironomidae of the Amazon region . In 1974 he was at the University of Kiel habilitation and taught in aquatic ecology .

In 1976 Fittkau was appointed director of the State Zoological Collection , making it the eighth successor to Johann Baptist von Spix . He held this position until 1992. He went on many other expeditions to South America and not only collected a lot of zoological material, but also brought together a valuable collection of ethnological objects.

After his retirement, Fittkau lived with his family in Icking, south of Munich.

Scientific importance

Fittkau has collected a lot. The zoological specimens he has collected are in the State Zoological Collection . Through its activities, the Munich State Zoological Collection has an internationally important collection of chironomids. The ethnological collection is also of great importance; it is now in the Museum of Five Continents in Munich.

Fittkau has described about 30 genera and 100 species of midges. Many more species were described by his many disciples. He supervised around 100 diploma, doctoral and other theses. Many of them make important contributions to the systematics of the Chironomidae .

As director of the State Zoological Collection, he was able to open the new collection building in Obermenzing . He was very successful in ensuring that the founder of the Zoological State Collection , Johann Baptist Spix , who was largely forgotten at times, became better known by publishing several publications about him, naming the journal of the Zoological State Collection after him "Spixiana" and initiated a Ritter von Spix Medal . In 2001 he received the Meigen Medal of the German Society for General and Applied Entomology for his services .

literature

  • A. Hausmann, M. Spies, J. Diller: In memoriam Prof. Dr. Ernst Josef Fittkau (July 22, 1927 - May 12, 2012). In: Spixiana. Volume 35, No. 2, 2012, pp. 161-176. (pfeil-verlag.de zsm.mwn.de , pdf).
  • M. Spies: Professor Ernst Josef Fittkau - 75 Years, 50 Years for Chironomid Research. In: Chironomus Newsletter. No. 15, 2002, pp. 2-13. (Text with bibliography of publications by Fittkau , PDF; 2.8 MB)
  • Prof. Ernst Josef Fittkau - his life and work. In: Spixiana. Supplement 17, 1992, pp. 7-23. (Chronicle of the Zoological State Collection Munich)
  • R. Gerstmeier: Laudation for Prof. Dr. Ernst Josef Fittkau. In: Mitt. Dt. Ges. Gen. Angew. Ent. Volume 13, 2001, pp. 15-19.
  • E. Bujok: Professor Dr. Ernst Josef Fittkau, July 22, 1927 - May 12, 2012. Obituary. In: Yearbook of the State Museum for Ethnology, Munich. Volume 15, 2012/13, pp. 300-305.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographies of the Entomologists of the World at senckenberg.de, accessed on December 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ Obituaries on trauer.sueddeutsche.de
  3. ↑ Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. Springer, 2004, ISBN 3-642-05597-4 , p. 78.
  4. ↑ Press release of the Kulturstiftung der Länder ( Memento from May 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Fittkau, Ernst Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fittkau, Ernesto Josef; Fittkau, Sepp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuhof ( Braunsberg district ), East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 2012
Place of death Munich