Ferdinand Ferdinandovich Morawitz (, ; 3 August 1827 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

– 5 December 1896 in St. Petersburg) was a Russian

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 ...

. His parents were German emigrants from

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. He was brought up in a private school for boys. In 1853, Morawitz graduated from the Dorpat University (now

Tartu University The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

with a 'Doctor of Medicine' degree. With a final year dissertation on the anatomy of ''

Blatta germanica ''Blatta'' is a genus of cockroaches. The name ''Blatta'' represents a specialised use of Latin ''blatta'', meaning a light-shunning insect. Species Species include: * '' Blatta furcata'' (Karny, 1908) * ''Blatta orientalis The oriental coc ...

''. After he graduated, he moved to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He then had a Doctors practise for 15 years until 1879. But in his spare time he was interested in entomology. He was one of the founding members of the

Russian Entomological Society The Russian Entomological Society is a Russian scientific society devoted to entomology. The Society was founded in 1859 in St. Petersburg by Karl Ernst von Baer, Johann Friedrich von Brandt who was then the director of the Zoological Museum of ...

in 1859. He first published scientific work on

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 ...

in 1860. Morawitz also studied the collection of naturalist

Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko (; 31 August/15 September 1873), or Fedtschenko, was a Russian naturalist and explorer well known for his travels in central Asia. Alternative transliterations of his name, used in languages such as German, include Al ...

, who had collected significant numbers of insects from three explorations from 1869 to 1873 of Central Asia. He recorded 438 species belonging to 36 genera from Central Asia: 68 species of

Andrena ''Andrena'' is a genus of bees in the family Andrenidae. With over 1,500 species, it is one of the largest genera of animals. It is a strongly Monophyly, monophyletic group that is difficult to split into more manageable divisions; currently, '' ...

, 17 species from Europe and 51 new species. Dr. Ferdinand Morawitz worked mainly on

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

. He is best known for his work on the

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

of Russia and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. He was one of the prominent entomologists associated with the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Science where his brother August Feodorovitsh Morawitz was

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the insect collections. His collection is shared between the Zoological Museum in St. Petersburg and the Zoological Museum of

Odessa University The Odesa I.I.Mechnykov National University (), often referred to as Odesa National University ( ONU, ), located in Odesa, Ukraine, is one of that country's major state-sponsored universities, named after the scientist Élie Metchnikoff (1845- ...

Works

Partial list *1869 Die Bienen des Gouvernements von St. Petersburg. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 6: 27-71. *1874 Die Bienen

Daghestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Feder ...

s. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 10(1873): 129-189. *1875 ees(Mellifera) in A. Fedtschenko ''Reise in

Turkestan Turkestan,; ; ; ; also spelled Turkistan, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The region is located in the northwest of modern day China and to the northwest of its ...

''. Berlin. * 1880 Ein Beitrag zur Bienen-Fauna mittel-Asiens. ''Izvêstiya Imperatorskoi akademii nauk'' 26: 337-379. * 1881 Die russischen Bombus-Arten in der Sammlung der Kaiserlichen Academie der Wissenschaften. ''Izvêstiya Imperatorskoi akademii nauk'' 27: 213-265. * 1883 Neue russisch-asiatische Bombus-Arten. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 17: 235-245. * 1886 Insecta in itinere cl. N. Przewalskii in Asia centrali novissime lecta. I. Apidae. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 20: 195-229. * 1888 Hymenoptera aculeata nova. Descripsit. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 22: 224-302. * 1890 Insecta a Cl. G. N. Potanin in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

et in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

novissime lecta. XIV. Hymenoptera Aculeata. II). III. Apidae. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 24: 349-385. * 1891 Hymenoptera aculeata Rossica nova. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 26(1892): 132-181. * 1893 Supplement zur Bienenfauna Turkestans. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 28(1894): 1-87.

References

*Meldola, R. 1896 ''Proc. Ent. Soc. London'' 1896 XCV. *Pesenko, Yu. A. & Astafurova, Yu. V. 2003 Annotated Bibliography of Russian and Soviet Publications on the Bees 1771 - 2002 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea; excluding Apis mellifera).''Denisia'' 11 1-616 (533-534). *Baker, D. B., 2004 Type material of Hymenoptera described by O. L. Radoszkowsky in the Natural History Museum, London, and the localities of A. P. Fedtschencko's Reise in Turkestan ''Dt. ent. Zeitschr.'' 51, 231-252. {{DEFAULTSORT:Morawitz, Ferdinand Ferdinandovich Entomologists from the Russian Empire Hymenopterists 1827 births 1896 deaths University of Tartu alumni