Carl Henrik Boheman (10 July 1796 – 2 November 1868) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 ...

. He collected specimens in Norway and became a curator of the Swedish museum of natural history and described numerous beetle species.

Life and work

Boheman was born in Jönköping, the son of mystic Carl Adolf Andersson Boheman who was involved in Freemasonry and made money in England and Copenhagen. Boheman was to become a merchant and apprenticed to Nils Westrin, a student of Linnaeus and Thunberg who collected insects. This made him interested in insects at an early age and he studied Latin. He studied law at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

but quit in 1813 and joined the Jönköping Regiment and trained as an officer, participating in the invasion of Norway in 1814. He collected insect specimens through his travels. He was called by the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

in 1841 to the position of professor and keeper of the Department of Entomology of the

Swedish Museum of Natural History The Swedish Museum of Natural History (), in Stockholm, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other one being located in Gothenburg. The museum was founded in 1819 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but goes bac ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. He had been made a member of the Academy in 1838. He retired from the Museum in 1867. Boheman was a specialist in

coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

, and particularly in

Chrysomelidae The beetle family Chrysomelidae, commonly known as leaf beetles, includes over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making it one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Numerous s ...

and Rhynchophora, he collaborated in particular with

Carl Johan Schönherr Carl Johan Schönherr (10 June 1772 – 28 March 1848) was a Swedish people, Swedish entomologist who revised the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of beetles, including weevils by examining all the descriptions of beetles since the time of Linnaeus. H ...

(1772–1848) in his great work on

Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae. Th ...

. His other works included ' (1847), ''Insecta Caffraria'' (two volumes, 1848–1857), ''Monographia Cassididarum Holmiæ'' (four volumes, 1850–1862) and the ninth part, devoted to

Cassidinae The Cassidinae (tortoise and leaf-mining beetles) are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae. The antennae arise close to each other and some members have the pronotal and elytral edges extended to the side and covering the legs so a ...

, in ''Catalogue of coleopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum'' (1856). Boheman who wrote 49 important papers described many common species some from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

taken on the 1851–1853 expedition voyage of the ''Eugenie'' ' (1858–1859), as well as very many other North American Coleoptera. His grandson was diplomat

Erik Boheman Erik Carlsson Boheman (19 January 1895 – 18 September 1979), was a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party.Erland Josephson Erland Josephson (; 15 June 1923 – 25 February 2012) was a Swedish actor and author. He was best known by international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky and Theodoros Angelopoulos. Life and career ...

Works

Partial list * ''Insecta Caffrariae annis 1838–1845 a J.A. Wahlberg collecta. Coleoptera.'' Holmiae : Fritze & Norstedt Vol. 1 8 + 625 pp.(1851). * Monographia Cassididarum (in four parts)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boheman, Carl Henrik 1796 births 1868 deaths Swedish entomologists Coleopterists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences People from Jönköping