Eugen von Keyserling
Eugen Graf von Keyserling (born March 22, jul. / 3. April 1832 greg. Pakruojis , Lithuania , † 4. April 1889 on his estate ERNSDORFF at Reichenbach in Silesia ) was a Baltic German explorer and as a zoologist one of the major arachnologists 19th. Century. Behind scientific names in identification books etc. his name is often abbreviated to " Keyserling ".
origin
His parents were Karl von Keyserlingk (* February 16, 1809; † July 21, 1893) and his first wife Theophile Alexandrine Theodore Julie Ottilie Amalie von der Ropp (* March 3, 1813; † December 23, 1841). His brother Otto Julius Hugo (born September 8, 1833, † March 15, 1903) was authorized representative of Courland.
Life
Keyserling studied camera science and zoology at the University of Dorpat and was a member of the Corps Curonia Dorpat in Dorpat in 1852 . After completing his studies, he took part in expeditions of the Russian government in the Tsarist Empire, to the Caucasus and in particular in 1858/59 in a scientific expedition to Khorasan . During this expedition he also described non-spiders, such as Iranian species of freshwater fish ( e.g. Squalius latus ). He continued touring England, France and Algeria. There he met his future wife Margarethe, the daughter of the historian and Bavarian ambassador in Geneva Wilhelm von Dönniges . As its negotiator, he and Wilhelm Arndt were also involved in the prehistory of the duel between Ferdinand Lassalle and the Romanian prince Yanko von Racowietza near Geneva in 1864. After his marriage in 1864 to the daughter of Dönniges, Keyserling gave up his existing travel plans to America and bought an estate in Lower Silesia in order to farm there. However, he continued to devote himself to his special topic, the spiders, and received these from the German-American arachnologist George Marx and other friends in his field. After Keyserling's untimely death, Marx completed his life's work, The Spiders of America, ready for printing. Today, it is a bibliophile treasure for experts. The drawings it contains are by Keyserling's hand.
His spider collection comprised over 10,000 species and was acquired by the Natural History Museum in London after his death , after the Natural History Museum in Berlin had rejected the offer of the widow Margarethe Countess von Keyserling to purchase the collection for 15,000 Reichsmarks in 1890.
family
He married Rudolfine Margarete Adelheid von Dönniges (* February 22, 1846, † July 13, 1930) a daughter of the diplomat Wilhelm von Dönniges . The couple had the following children:
- Robert Franz Karl Albert (March 10, 1866 - October 15, 1959) ∞ Ernestine Katharina Margarete Hirt (* June 13, 1879 - February 13, 1958)
- Karl Wilhelm Wolfgang (* August 14, 1869; † December 29, 1928) ∞ Adele Klara Johanna von Skene (* March 26, 1879; † March 16, 1966)
Works
- He finished The Arachnids of Australia (1871-1883) for Ludwig Carl Christian Koch .
- The Spiders of America (post mortem publisher: George Marx). Bauer & Raspe, Nuremberg 1880–1893, 6 parts in 4 volumes.
literature
- Friedrich G. Barth : Senses and behavior - from the life of a spider. Springer 2001, ISBN 3-540-67716-X , p. 8 ff.
- Stavenhagen, Oskar: Genealogical manual of the Courland knighthood, Bd .: 1, S.144
Web links
- Album academicum of the Imperial University of Dorpat , Dorpat 1889
- Eugen von Keyserling at geneall.net
- Baltic Historical Commission (Ed.): Entry on Eugen von Keyserling. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carsten Kretschmann: Spaces Open - Natural History Museums in 19th Century Germany. Frankfurt 2004, ISBN 3-05-004202-8 , p. 145 ( books.google.com )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keyserling, Eugen von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Keyserling, Eugen Graf von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Baltic explorer and arachnologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 3, 1832 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pakruojis , Lithuania |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 4, 1889 |
| Place of death | Gut Ernsdorff near Reichenbach in Silesia |