Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist
Franz Steindachner, 1912
Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in
Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an
Austrianzoologist,
ichthyologist, and
herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians.[1] Steindachner described hundreds of new species of fish and dozens of new amphibians and reptiles.[2] At least seven species of reptile have been named after him.[3]
Work and career
Being interested in
natural history, Steindachner took up the study of
fossil fishes on the recommendation of his friend
Eduard Suess (1831–1914). In 1860 he was appointed to the position of director of the fish collection at the
Naturhistorisches Museum, a position which had remained vacant since the death of
Johann Jakob Heckel (1790–1857).[4]
Steindachner's reputation as an
ichthyologist grew, and in 1868 he was invited by
Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) to accept a position at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at
Harvard University. Steindachner took part in the
Hassler Expedition of 1871–1872 (a journey that circumnavigated
South America from
Boston to
San Francisco). In 1874 he returned to Vienna, and in 1887 was appointed director of the zoological department of the Naturhistorisches Museum. In 1898 he was promoted to director of the museum.[4]
Among his better known works in ichthyology are Ichthyologische Notizen (1863, published over 8 editions), Ichthyologische Beiträge (1874), and Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Flussfische Sudamerikas (1879), the latter work dealing with river fish of
South America. In the field of
herpetology, he published Die schlangen und eidechsen der Galapagos-inseln (Snakes and lizards of the
Galapagos Islands, 1875).[6]
^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.
ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Steindachner", p. 252).
Further reading
Pietschmann V (1919). "Franz Steindachner ". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien33: 47–48. (in German).