Werner Bokermann

Werner Carlos Augusto Bokermann (born July 4, 1929 in Botucatu , São Paulo , † April 1, 1995 in São Paulo ) was a Brazilian zoologist. His main research interests were birds and frogs.

Life

After graduating from secondary school in Botucatu , Bokermann went to São Paulo in 1947 and received an assistant position in the department of zoology in the Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento. Under the influence of Hélío Ferraz de Almeida Camargo (1922–2006), head of the secretariat and a well-known ornithologist, Bokermann worked from 1950 in the herpetological department, the area of ​​expertise of Paulo Vanzolini (1924–2013), an expert on Brazilian reptiles. Bokermann was appointed curator for Froschlurche and held this position until 1993. He conducted extensive frog studies and wrote 83 scientific papers about it.

Bokermann's focus was primarily on taxonomy. He described 70 new species within the families Hylidae , Leptodactylidae , Bufonidae , Dendrobatidae and Microhylidae . In 1963 he worked with the zoologist Bertha Lutz (1884–1976). He conducted eleven further studies (1973–1982, 1983) in collaboration with his student Ivan Sazima.

Bokermann first described the frog collection of the Instituto de Biociências. From 1956 he devoted himself to his private collection, which he kept in his house. The latter was built up through extensive field work across the country and through exchanges with museums. From 1967 to 1968, Bokermann received a Guggenheim grant to study the frog collections in Colombian, Ecuadorian and US museums.

In 1969 the collections were transferred from the Department of Zoology to the new Museu de Zoologia of the University of São Paulo . However, Bokermann was assigned to the Instituto de Biociências . At the same time he took a job at the Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo, where he worked in the bird department. In 1984 he became head of this department. After 1970, Bokermann's work concentrated more and more on the zoo and ornithology. In addition, was involved in the amphibious department of the zoo and its museum. He was particularly interested in nest building and bird protection.

In 1977 Bokermann left the Instituto de Biociências and enrolled at the Faculdade Farias Brito in Guarulhos (São Paulo), where he graduated in 1978. From 1980 to 1981 he carried out postgraduate studies at the University of São Paulo. In 1991, at the age of 61, he wrote his doctoral thesis on the gray- tipped tinamu ( Tinamus solitarius ). Most of Bokermann's publications after 1977 were about birds.

In his descriptions of frogs, Bokermann paid special attention to the tadpoles . He was also one of the first to use the sonagram of call when describing new species . In addition to Sazima, Bokermann trained a number of new herpetologists in Brazil, including Adâo Cardoso, Célio F. Haddard and José Pombal Júnior. He regularly took part in the examinations of master's and doctoral students in herpetology and ornithology at the universities of the São Paulo region.

Bokermann amassed a considerable private collection of frogs containing over 40,000 specimens. This is located in the Museu de Zoologia of the University of São Paulo .

Dedication names

Bokermann was honored among others, the following taxa: Simpsonichthys bokermanni , lonchophylla bokermanni , Dendropsophus bokermanni , Phrynomedusa bokermanni , Aparasphenodon bokermanni , Caecilia bokermanni , Pterolebias bokermanni , Neobidessus bokermanni , Proto meters bokermanni and bokermanni Canthidium . The rare Araripepipra (Antilophia bokermanni ) also bears his name.

literature

• Kraig Adler, John S. Applegarth, and Ronald Altig: Contributions to the History of Herpetology. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles , Vol 2, 2007: S. 227
• Antonio Silveira Ribeiro dos Santos: In memoriam: Werner CABokermann . Centro de Estudos Ornitológicos de São Paulo - SP PDF, online