Ödön Tömösváry (''Edmund Tömösváry'', October 12, 1852, in Magyaró – August 15, 1884, in

Déva Deva (; Hungarian: ''Déva'', Hungarian pronunciation: ; German: ''Diemrich'', ''Schlossberg'', ''Denburg''; Latin: ''Sargetia''; is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, on the left bank of the river Mureș. It is the c ...

) was a Hungarian naturalist, myriapodologist and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. In 1883 he made the seminal description of peculiar sensory organ of

myriapods Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. Although molecular evidence and similar fossils suggests a diversifi ...

, known today as the temporal organ or

organ of Tömösváry Tömösváry organs, also known as temporal organs or postantennal organs are specialized paired sensory organs found in certain groups of myriapods (e.g. centipedes and millipedes) and hexapods (e.g. springtail Springtails (class Collembola) f ...

. He attended secondary school in

Kolozsvár Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

and university of Selmecbánya. Tömösváry completed his university studies in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1881, and his doctoral thesis concerned the anatomical structure of the respiratory organ of ''

Scutigera coleoptrata ''Scutigera coleoptrata'', also known as the house centipede, is a species of centipede that is typically yellowish-grey and has up to 15 pairs of long legs. Originating in the Mediterranean region, it has spread to other parts of the world, wh ...

''. In his scientific career Tömösváry wrote 57 papers. When he arrived in the Lower

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

region to study the Columbatch fly (

Simuliidae A black fly or blackfly (sometimes called a buffalo gnat, turkey gnat, or white socks) is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. It is related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Over 2,200 spe ...

) he became sick with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Because of this continuing illness he wasn't able to work as a zoologist and in the last year of his life he worked as a teacher at Kassa. He died on August 15, 1884, in Déva. Tömösváry described 32 new myriapod species: 10 of

Diplopoda Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

, 19 of

Chilopoda Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin language, Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphyl ...

, 2 of

Pauropoda Pauropoda is a class of small, pale, millipede-like arthropods in the subphylum Myriapoda. More than 900 species in twelve families are found worldwide, living in soil and leaf mold. Pauropods look like centipedes or millipedes and may be a sist ...

, and one

Symphyla Symphylans, also known as garden centipedes or pseudocentipedes, are soil-dwelling arthropods of the class Symphyla in the subphylum Myriapoda. Symphylans resemble centipedes, but are very small, non-venomous, and may or may not form a clade wi ...

species. He introduced two new genera, ''Edentistoma'' Tömösváry, 1882 = ''Anodontastoma'' Tömösváry, 1882 and ''Trachypauropus'' Tömösváry, 1882.

References

* Korsós Z
Ödön Tömösváry (1852–1884), Pioneer of Hungarian Myriapodology
. ''Bulletin of the British Myriapod and Isopod Group''. 19, pp. 78–87, 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomosvary, Odon 1852 births 1884 deaths People from Mureș County Hungarian entomologists 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Myriapodologists Tuberculosis deaths in Romania Naturalists from Austria-Hungary