Maurits Anne Lieftinck

Maurits Anne Lieftink on a dragonfly excursion

Maurits Anne Lieftinck (born September 18, 1904 in Amsterdam , † April 13, 1985 in Rhenen ) was a Dutch biologist and zoologist. Between 1947 and 1954 he played an important role in researching the entomofauna of the Dutch East Indies . He is considered one of the most influential zoologists in Indonesia .

Live and act

Maurits Anne Lieftinck was born in Amsterdam as the son of Gerard Lieftinck (1875–1957), entrepreneur and manager of the tobacco company JH Lieftinck & Zoon, and his wife Elisabeth Esser (1878–1963). His brother was the paleographer and publicist Gerard Isaac Lieftinck (1902-1994).

Interested in animals, especially insects, since his youth, Lieftinck was encouraged to study dragonflies at the age of 14 by his teacher Jacobus Heimans at Amsterdam's Lyceum . In 1920 he co-founded the Nederlandse Jeugdbond voor Natuurstudie (Dutch Youth League for Nature Studies) and also a member of the Nederlandse Entomologische Vereniging (Dutch Entomological Society). From 1923 to 1929 he studied biology at the University of Amsterdam . In 1925 he published the book Odonata Neerlandica , which is considered the first standard work on the Dutch dragonfly fauna. In 1929 he got a job as an entomologist in the Zoological Museum of Bogor in the Dutch East Indies. From 1940 he was director of the museum for a few years. Lieftinck's work was recognized internationally and on November 26, 1950 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel for it . In 1954 he returned to the Netherlands, where he became curator at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie . In the course of his life Lieftinck published over 300 scientific articles in which over 500 newly discovered dragonfly species and 22 new dragonfly generations from Southeast Asia are described. Lieftinck was also considered an expert in the field of hymenoptera (Hymenoptera). In the last years of his life he made some short nature documentaries. In 1969 he retired and was appointed officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau .

Dedication names

In addition to numerous species, the genera Lieftinckana , Lieftinckia and Neolieftinckana are named after Lieftinck .

literature

• LB Holthuis: 1820 - 1958 Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie Chjm Fransen, C. van Achterberg, Pj van Helsdingen (ed.) Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum 1995 ( PDF online ) (Dutch)