English
Ferdinand Morawitz
* 3.8.1827 St. Petersburg
† 17.12.1896
Ferdinand Morawitz
# Entomologe;
Mitglied des Österr. Ent. Ver. Wien vor 1900 (?); Porträt im "Fotoalbum Österr. Ent. Ver. Wien" (Abb. Nr. 49) (Archiv H. Malicky, Lunz).
Morawitz, Ferdinand Ferdinand (1827-1896)
F. Morawitz was born on 3 (15) August 1827 in St. Petersburg in a German emigrants (from Silesia) family. He was brought up in a closed school for boys. In 1853, F. Morawitz graduated the Derpt (at present, Tartu in Estonia) University with the degree of Doctor of Medicine for the dissertation on the anatomy of Blatta germanica. The topic of this dissertation had shown his interest in entomology, in spite of professional choice of medical job. After his removing to St. Petersburg in 1853, he was working during 15 years (1853-1879) as a practice physician. Simultaneously F. Morawitz appeared as an active amateur entomologist and was one of founders of the Russian Entomological Society in 1859. In 1873-1874 and 1885-1895, he held the function of the Vice-Chairman of the Society.
The first scientific paper by F. Morawitz was published in 1860. This and several followed ones were treated on Coleoptera. But soon Hymenoptera (mostly bees) became his main field of the study. The basis of his investigations was hymenopterans collected by him in the environs of St. Petersburg and during his trips to the Crimea, Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. Also he identified all bees and most part of other aculeates caught by members of the known expeditions of A. Fedtschenko, N. Przhewalski, G. Potanin, as well from collections of N. Glazunov, P. Varentsov and many other Russian entomologists. F. Morawitz was the most authoritative specialist of Apoidea in the end of XIX century. He died on 5 (17) December 1896.
F. Morawitz published 64 papers. 44 publications deal with melittology. Of them, 30 papers are annotated lists of bees with descriptions of new species from France (see 1868), Switzerland (see 1867), Germany (1872d), Greek (see, 1874a), southern Western Europe (see 1871c), environs of St. Petersburg (see 1865b, 1869, 1873, 1893a), other provinces of European Russia (see 1870, 1871a, 1871c, 1872a, 1874a, 1874b, 1888, 1891), Caucasus (see 1876b, 1877b), Middle Asia (see 1875, 1876c, 1880, 1883d, 1886, 1893b, 1893c, 1894), Siberia (1866, 1876a, 1883a), Mongolia and China (see 1887, 1890). His 4 papers specially treat the taxonomy of Bombus (see 1881, 1883b, 1883c, 1884c). Of course, his monograph (303 pages) on bees collected by A. Fedtschenko during his travel to Turkestan [Middle Asia] is especially important (see 1875, 1876c); it comprises descriptions of and keys to 438 species, including many new ones. F. Morawitz was one of few Russian entomologists (or even the lone), who successfully described many Western European species (see 1867, 1868, 1871c, 1872d, 1874a).
In total, F. Morawitz described 5 new genera of bees (Epimethea, Melittoxena, Plistotrichia, Stelidomorpha, and Tarsalia) and 725 new species (i.e. nearly one fourth of the Palaearctic fauna), belonging to the following genera: Ammobates (7 species), Andrena (122), Anthidium (44), Anthophora (65), Apathus [Psithyrus] (3), Bombus (27), Camptopoeum (5), Ceratina (6), Cilissa (1), Coelioxys (14), Colletes (16), Crocisa [Thyreus] (9), Dasypoda (2), Dioxys (1), Dufourea (3), Epeolus (3), Epimethea (3), Eucera (18), Halictoides [Dufourea] (3), Halictus s. str. (77), Heriades (5), Hylaeus (40), Lithurgus (1), Megachile (29), Melecta (6), Melitta (2), Melitturga (3), Nomada (47), Nomia (6), Nomioides (3), Osmia (87), Panurginus (11), Panurgus (1), Plistotrichia [Ancyla] (1), Prosopis [Hylaeus] (4), Rophites [including Dufourea and Pararhophites] (8), Sphecodes (4), Stelis (4), Systropha (1), Tarsalia (1), Tetralonia (26), and Xylocopa (6). The overwhelming majority of species described by him is currently recognised as separate.
His excellent collection (over 10, 000 specimens, mostly identified bees from Russia and neighbouring countries) primarily was divided into two nearly equal parts and given to the Zoological Museum (at present, Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg) and the Russian Entomological Society. At present, both the parts are at the fund collection of the Zoological Institute.
Published biography, bibliography and obituaries:
Meldola, R. (1896). - Proc. Ent. Soc. London, 1896: xcv [in English].
Semenov, A. P. (1897). - Horae Soc. Ent. Ross. (St. Petersburg), 31 (1/2): i-x [in Russian].
Wilderman, M. (1897). - Jb. Naturw., 12: 165 [in German].
aus Denisia 11/2003
Wildbienenforschung in Österreich (aus Kataloge Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Bd. N.F. 10 [2. Auflage] = Katalog des Tiroler Landesmuseums Ferdinandeum Innsbruck)
