Otto Scheerpeltz

Otto Scheerpeltz (born July 16, 1888 in Stadt-Neugasse near Olmütz , † November 10, 1975 in Vienna ) was an Austrian entomologist ( coleopterologist ).

Life

Scheerpeltz attended the state high school in Olomouc. At school he was primarily interested in zoology and botany, but at the request of his father, from 1905 onwards he studied civil engineering at the Technical University in Vienna. After the first state examination, he became a teacher for performing geometry and technical drawing at the Schottenfelder Oberrealschule in Vienna, initially as a supplement, after he passed the teaching examination in 1910 with a full position as a teacher. He had to break off his studies beforehand for financial reasons, but in 1922 he resumed studies in zoology and botany - despite the high teaching load at two secondary schools - and received his doctorate summa cum laude in 1930 . In 1936 he was a teacher and later deputy director and he was about to get his habilitation, but this was prevented by the outbreak of the Second World War. He turned down offers from Hans Leo Przibram for a position at the Biological Research Institute (Vivarium), from R. Jeannet in Paris or from Teiso Esaki to Tokyo, as well as at the University of Göttingen in 1943 - as elsewhere, one was not least of all at his collection Special literature interested. Until his retirement in 1945 he was a teacher at the Schottenfelder Oberrealschule in Vienna, where he was finally promoted to senior teacher. In 1948 he became head of the Coleoptera department in the Natural History Museum Vienna. He rebuilt the collections and the library there and was officially retired in 1953 at the age of 65, but continued to work part-time at the museum, in addition to his work in his private laboratory. His successor at the museum was his former assistant F. Janczyk. From 1969 he was tied to the house due to an accident. He continued his scientific work until shortly before his death.

plant

Encouraged by his teacher Franz Werner , he dealt with entomology and especially with the short-winged birds (Staphylinidae). In this area he built one of the largest collections in the world with 300,000 copies (around 10,000 types and paratypes), partly from donations from other entomologists. He bequeathed the collection and his library to the Natural History Museum Vienna. He was considered one of the leading experts in this field with worldwide contacts. Numerous first descriptions come from him, whereby his talent for drawing came to his aid with the descriptions. Even after his retirement he largely bore the costs of his extensive worldwide correspondence, including exchange transactions. He has published more than 200 publications.

With Max Bernhauer he created a catalog of the Staphylinidae (as part of Wilhelm Junk and Sigmund Schenkling, Coleopterorum Catalogus), which appeared in 1926 and comprised 12,740 species. In 1932 Scheerpeltz expanded it to 19,900 species. About 45,000 species were known in 2000.

Honors and private matters

In 1958 he received the Cross of Honor for Science and Art 1st Class and in 1975 the Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria .

He was supported in his work by his wife Flora Hartel (died 1974), whom he married in 1912.

Fonts

• Ants, Neue Brehm Library 1951
• with Karl Höfler: Käfer und Pilze, Verlag für Jugend und Volk 1948

He wrote the Staphylinidae volume of the Catalogus Faunae Austriae, 1968.

literature

• R. Brunner: Otto Scheerpeltz in memory. In: Verh. Zoolog. Bot. Ges. Volume 115, Vienna, pp. 21-23, PDF on ZOBODAT

Web links

• Prof. Dr. Otto Scheerpeltz on ZOBODAT
• Wikimedia, Species