Oktawiucz Wincenty [Oktavij Ivanovitsch Burmeister] Radoszkowski

* 1820
† 1895

Oktawiucz Wincenty [Oktavij Ivanovitsch Burmeister] Radoszkowski

Radoszkowski, Oktawiucz Wincenty [Bourmeister-Radoszkowski, O. W.] (1820-1895)

O. Radoszkowski was born on 7 (19) August 1820 in Lomza (Poland), in a lawyer’s family. He finished a gymnasia (secondary school) and the two-year Technical College in Warsaw. In both of these schools, the natural history was taught by Antoni Waga (1799-1890), an exceptional zoologist and pedagogue. Under his influence, young O. Radoszkowski became very interested in natural sciences, and entomology especially. In 1838-1845 he studied at the Artillery Academy in St. Petersburg. Until 1850 he taught at this Academy higher mathematics and descriptive geometry, later he served field duty for a few years (among other campaigns, he participated in the Crimean War), and finally settled in St. Petersburg as a member of different military committees at general headquarters. He finished his military career in 1879 at the rank of lieutenant general.
Since 1846 O. Radoszkowski participated in private meetings of an amateur entomologist group consisting chiefly of officers and officials of the Russian army. Together they planned to form a formally recognised entomological society. Unfortunately, due to numerous arrests also among officers and lecturers of higher military schools, participating in secret democratic organisations, as well as working with Polish democratic revolutionaries, caused that the Russian Entomological Society was not officially recognised until December 1859. A member-founder of the Society, O. Radoszkowski held the function of the Vice-Chairman during 1861-1866 and during 1867-1879 that is until he left St. Petersburg, the Chairman of the Society. While serving in those capacities, he secured financial means for the premises, library, scientific expeditions and publications, organised first contacts with respective Societies outside of Russia, as well as worked on applied entomology, which occupied a lot of Society's attention.
In 1879 O. Radoszkowski, as a retired lieutenant general, settled in Warsaw. He studied of Hymenoptera and propagated among entomologists a new, at that time, method of differentiating species on the basis of anatomic differences in the structure of the male genitalia and the mouth parts, which he himself had somewhat improved on. O. Radoszkowski died on 13 (25) May 1895 in Warsaw. He published (under different spellings of his name: Radochkouvsky, Radoshkouvsky, Radoshkovsky, Radoszkovski, Radoszkovsky, Radoszkowski, Radoszkowsky) 112 papers, of which 74 treat on the taxonomy and fauna of Hymenoptera; 14, on the applied entomology, 12, on the biology of Hymenoptera; 1, on the mineralogy; 8, on organisational problems of the Russian Entomological Society and the Staszic Foundation; and 3 papers were biographies of late Polish zoologists.
The main objects of the study by O. Radoszkowski were bees. The majority of his publications (73) deal with the Apoidea, mostly with their taxonomy and morphology. 3 papers contain data on the biology of bees (see his publications of 1972a, 1972c, 1891d). As the biggest and most important publiccations, the following papers can be named: (1) revision of the collection of the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences (see 1860, 1862b), (2) contributions to the bee fauna of Russia (see 1867, 1862b, 1874a, 1876a, 1877d, 1891b), (3) critical revision of the paper by M. Gerstaecker, 1869 (see 1872e, 1874b), (4) new species of Bombus from Russia (see 1883), (5) structure of male genitalia in Bombus (see Radoszkowski, 1884c), (6) fauna of bees in Transcaspian region [Turkmenia] (see 1886a, 1887b, 1888b, 1893a).
In all, O. Radoszkowski described 8 new genera of bees (Ammobatoides, Epeicharis, Epicharoides, Euthyglossa, Macroglossa, Paracoelioxys, Pseudocilissa, and Pseudomelecta) and 241 species of the following genera: Andrena (14 species), Anthidium (10), Anthophora (21), Bombus (30), Ceratina (1), Chalicodoma (1), Cilissa [Melitta] (8), Coelioxys (4), Colletes (11), Crocisa [Thyreus] (19), Dasypoda (5), Dioxys (1), Epeicharis (2), Epeolus (3), Epicharoides (1), Eucera (5), Eucharis (1), Euthyglossa (1), Habropoda (2), Halictus (4), Lithurgus (2), Macrocera [Tetralonia] (14), Macroglossa (1), Megachile (21), Melecta (12), Nomada (9), Nomia (10), Nomioides (2), Osmia (9), Panurginus (1), Paracoelioxys (1), Phileremus (1), Pseudomelecta (1), Pseudosmia (2), Psithyrus (3), Stelidomorpha (1), Tetralonia (2), and Xylocopa (4). About a half of these new taxa is currently recognised.
The Radoszkowski’s collection of Hymenoptera consisted mainly of Palaearctic species (includeing many bees), among them many specimens and descriptive types from the Asian territories of Russia. He received them from fellow officers returning from military expeditions, from geographic expeditions, from Polish deportees to Siberia, as well as through exchange with European specialists. It contains around 600 types including types of Ichneumonoidea from the collection of E. Eversmann and Apoidea from collection of A. Dours. The Radoszkowski’s collection together with the scientific library and manuscripts was donated by his wife in 1898 to the Poznan Society of Friends of Sciences. 600 «duplicates of types» was given through exchange to the Zoological Museum of the Berlin University in 1899. The rest, together with the library and manuscripts passed in 1902, also through exchange, into the hands of the Polish Academy of Learning in Krakow, and at present is to be found at the Institute of Systematic and Experimental Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow. After the destruction caused by unfortunate accidents, non-returning of loaned materials, and two world wars, the collection contains right now over 29, 000 specimens.

Published biography [It contains references to all biographies of and other informational data on O. Radoszkowski and his collection published before 1975]: Dylewska, M., et al. (1975). - Memorabilia Zool. (Wróclaw), 25: 1-121 [in Polish].
aus Denisia 11/2003

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