Johann Carl Megerle von Mühlfeld
Johann Carl Megerle von Mühlfeld , originally Megerle, called Karl, (* 1765 ; † September 12, 1840 ) was an Austrian entomologist and malacologist .
He was the son of the custodian at the Imperial Natural History Cabinet in Vienna Johann Baptist Megerle von Mühlfeld (1742–1813), who was ennobled as von Mühlfeld in 1803, and brother of Johann Georg Megerle von Mühlfeld . From 1786 he was initially free of charge in the service of the natural history cabinet, where he dealt with crabs, insects, mussels and snails and what was then known as radiation animals (echinoderms, sponges, etc.). In 1792 he became curator-adjunct and head of the mineral collection. He mainly collected insects, especially in Silesia, Galicia and Dalmatia. From 1798 to 1806 he had his own auction house for natural produce (especially insects) in the Bürgerspital Vienna, which he had founded in order to compete with the natural produce trade in Vienna, which he believed was too expensive.
He also had an extensive collection himself, which he sold to the Imperial Natural History Cabinet in 1808 (purchase as early as 1806). He also organized the purchase of Gundian's collection of European butterflies. The old insect collections in the Hofburg were destroyed in a fire in 1848.
A second collection he built up after 1808 was bought by Count JA Ferrari after his death, after whose death it also passed into the possession of the Viennese museum. His collection, which comprised around 10,000 insects, 3,000 minerals including a few diamonds and 2,000 conchylia, was a sight in Vienna.
From 1803 he called himself like his father von Mühlfeld, who was raised to the nobility that year.
He wrote essays on mollusks and published insect catalogs for his auction house. He was also a well known coin collector.
From 1826 to 1840 he had his own lovers' theater (Mühlfeldtheater) in today's Gentzgasse in Vienna .
Several first descriptions of molluscs and insects come from him, for example Amygdalum (1811, see mussels ).
The brachiopod Mergelia is named after him.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Megerle, Karl, also JK . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 17th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing House, Vienna 1867, p. 261 f. ( Digitized version ).
Web links
- Schenkling, On the auction catalogs of Johann Karl Megerle, Arb. Morph. Taxon. Ent. 1935 (PDF)
- Karl Megerle von Mühlfeld in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the entomological collection, Natural History Museum Vienna . A collection of Brazilian insects that Johann Natterer built up in Brazil from 1817 to 1835, on the other hand, was housed outside and survived.
- ↑ Mergelia, Spectrum Lexicon Biology
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Megerle von Mühlfeld, Johann Carl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Megerle von Mühlfeld, Karl; Megerle, Johann Carl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian malacologist and entomologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1765 |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 12, 1840 |