Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
zoologist.
Fitzinger was born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and studied
botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...
under
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. He worked at the Vienna
Naturhistorisches Museum between 1817, when he joined as a volunteer assistant, and 1821, when he left to become secretary to the provincial legislature of
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
; after a hiatus he was appointed assistant curator in 1844 and remained at the Naturhistorisches Museum until 1861. Later he became director of the zoos of
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
and
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
.
In 1826 he published ''Neue Classification der Reptilien'', based partly on the work of his friends
Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich and
Heinrich Boie
Heinrich Boie (4 May 1794, Meldorf, Holstein – 4 September 1827, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia) was a German zoologist. He was the brother of Friedrich Boie. In the field of herpetology they described 49 new species of reptiles and severa ...
. In 1843 he published ''Systema Reptilium'', covering
geckos,
chameleons and
iguanas.
Fitzinger is commemorated in the scientific names of five reptiles: ''
Algyroides fitzingeri'', ''
Leptotyphlops fitzingeri'', ''
Liolaemus fitzingerii'', ''
Micrurus tener fitzingeri'', and ''
oxyrhopus fitzingeri''.
Works
[As given in th]
website of the ''Naturhistorisches Museum Wien''
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1826). ''Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. zoologischen Museum's zu Wien'' (New classification of reptiles according to their natural relationships, appended to a table of their relationships and a sketch of the reptile collection of the imperial and royal zoological museum of Vienna). Vienna: J.G. Hübner. vii + 66 pp. + one plate. (in German and Latin).
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1835). ''Entwurf einer systematischen Anordnung der Schildkröten nach den Grundsätzen der natürlichen Methode'' (Draft of a systematic arrangement of turtles based on the principles of the natural method).
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1843). ''Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae''. Vienna: Braumüller et Seidel. 106 pp. + indices (in Latin).
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1850). ''Über den'' Proteus anguinus ''der Autoren'' (On the author's ''
Proteus anguinus'').
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1861). A catalog of the reptiles and amphibians collected during the
''Novara'' expedition.
See also
*
:Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger
Notes
19th-century Austrian zoologists
Austrian taxonomists
1802 births
1884 deaths
Austrian mammalogists
Austrian herpetologists
Scientists from Vienna
University of Vienna alumni
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