Jump to content

Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann
Born31 October 1881
Hamburg, Germany
Died3 July 1938
NationalityGerman
Scientific career
FieldsEntomology

Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann, more usually known as Ferdinand Nevermann (31 October 1881 – 3 July 1938) was a German entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.

Biography

[edit]

Nevermann was born in Hamburg on 31 October 1881. His parents were Johann Joachim Heinrich Nevermann and Johanna Henriette Nevermann [née Meier].[1]

Nevermann spent much of his working life in Costa Rica, where he was a resident from about 1909.[2] He owned a banana plantation called the Hamburg Farm near the Reventazón River at Ebene, Limón[3] (near the modern town of Cairo[4]), and was a professor at the National School of Agriculture.[5]

Nevermann married Annie Rownd Deters (1888-1984) in 1909, and they had four children.[6]

The Dunn's Road Guarder snake, Crisantophis nevermanni (Dunn, 1937), was given its specific name by Emmett Reid Dunn (1894-1956) in honour of Nevermann.[7]

In June 1938 Nevermann invited his friend, the entomologist Alexander Bierig (1884-1963), to stay with him on his plantation. On the night of 30 June, while out collecting insects, Nevermann and Bierig were accidentally shot by an American hunter[8] passing through the area, who had mistaken them for an animal. Nevermann died of his injuries in the hospital at Limón on 3 July 1938.[5] Bierig was shot in the shoulder, but survived.[5]

in 1941 Nevermann's collection of Costa Rican Coleoptera was accessioned by the U.S. National Museum.[9][10] It comprised 33,000 specimens including representatives of 2,800 species, with Types of around 400 species, 10,000 Coleoptera that were unidentified plus Nevermann's field notes and observations.[11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann in the Hamburg, Germany, Births, 1874-1901". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  2. ^ "New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Passenger Lists, 1813-1963 for Ferdinand Nevermann". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Gnomidolon costaricense: Martins, 1962: Cerambycidae: Coleoptera: Insecta: Arthropoda [specimen label with Hamburg farm location]". Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
  4. ^ Platnick, Norman I; Berniker, Lily; Víquez, Carlos (22 December 2014). "A new goblin spider genus of the Zyngoonops group from Costa Rica, with notes on Coxapopha (Araneae, Oonopidae)". American Museum Novitates (3820): 2–3 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. ^ a b c Hilje, Luka (13 October 2022). "La híbrida y portentosa obra de Alexander Bierig ¿Entomólogo o pintor? ¡Los dos en uno!". Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  7. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 189.
  8. ^ Beebe, William (October 1938). "Forty Bays: Along the West Coast of Central America the Department of Tropical Research Again Has Dipped Its Nets". Bulletin of the New York Zoological Society. XLI (5): 154.
  9. ^ Rehn, James A G (1942). "Note on the Genus Bertoniella (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Agraeciinae)". Entomological News. 53: 246 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  10. ^ Saylor, Lawrence Webster (1943). "Synoptic revision of the testaceipennis group of the beetle genus Phyllophaga". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 33: 109 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  11. ^ Wetmore, Alexander (1942). Report on the Progress and Condition of the United States National Museum for the Year Ended June 30, 1941. Washington: United States Government Printing Office. p. 79.