English
Dr. Alexander Schintlmeister
* 21.2.1957 Dresden
Dr. Alexander Schintlmeister
Alexander Schintlmeister is an Austrian, born on 21. February 1957 in Dresden, Germany. From an early age he was fascinated by insects, in particular butterflies and moths, forming his first collection of butterflies, unaided, at the age of 8.
After finishing school, he studied physics at the Technische Universität Dresden, close to the entomological library at the Tierkundemuseum Dresden where he spent much of his spare time. After graduating with a Diploma in the physics of solid matter in 1979, he completed a doctorate in 1987 with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on the biogeography and evolution of the Palaearctic Notodontidae.
He took part in a two-month expedition to the Caucasus, Russia at the age of 16, subsequently leading an expedition to study tropical moths in 1979 to Sumatra with Dr. Eduard W. Diehl. Later he paid annual visits to many East Asian countries (Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka) and collected at some of the most interesting hot spot localities, discovering many new and interesting species. He visited almost all museums and private individual keeping important collections of moths in Europe and some in Asia. In 1989 he was politically active in the peaceful revolution in East Germany, reducing the opportunities for longer expeditions abroad, but he became a friend of Victor Sinjaev, who worked for Schintlmeister from 1991.
The Lepidoptera collections of Alexander Schintlmeister (Notodontidae, Lymantriidae and a general collection of European Lepidoptera) include some hundred primary types and some thousands of Paratypes. About 300.000 specimens and 8800 genitalia slides are kept in the author's house in Dresden. The image-collection (including most Notodontidae types, and further interesting specimens from many different collections) contains more than 25.000 pictures.
Schintlmeister is the author of several major publications dealing with the Notodontidae of Russia, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Sundaland and Thailand. Among the more than 80 scientific publications there are also papers on Lymantriidae and European Lepidoptera.
In 1986 he married the opera singer Cornelia Wosnitz.
