Grigory Yefimovich Grum-Grshimailo (russian: Григо́рий Ефи́мович Грумм-Гржима́йло, 1860–1936) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

best known for his expeditions to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

(

Pamir Pamir may refer to: Geographical features * Pamir Mountains, a mountain range in Central Asia ** Pamir-Alay, a mountain system in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, part of the Pamir Mountains *A pamir (valley) is a high plateau or valley surro ...

, Bukhara,

Tian-Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

, Kan-su, and Kukunor), western

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

, and the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

. In literature his name is sometimes spelled as Grigor Efimowitsch Grumm-Grzhimailo or Grigory Yefimovich Grumm-Grzhimaylo.

Life and work

Born in St. Petersburg, his early interest was in the phylloxera problem in the vineyards of N. Y. Danilevsky. He wrote his first scientific work at the age of 21 on some Lepidoptera of the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

(1882, vol. 8 of the ''Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society''). He was associated with Professor M. N. Bogdanov at the St. Petersburg Museum and contributed many of his own collections to it. He also studied the collections of the museum that had been made by Nikolai Przhevalsky, Grigory Potanin,

Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov or Semenov (russian: Пётр Петрович Семёнов; 2 January ''( New style: 14 January)'', 1827 – 26 February ''( New style: 11 March)'', 1914) was a Russian geographer and statistician who managed the Rus ...

, and other explorers of Central Asia. From 1882, Grum-Grshimailo studied Lepidoptera from the Bessarabia,

Podolia Governorate The Podolia Governorate or Podillia Governorate (), set up after the Second Partition of Poland, was a governorate (''gubernia'', ''province'', or ''government'') of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1 ...

, Crimea, and the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

and got interested in

zoogeography Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with geographic distribution (present and past) of animal species. As a multifaceted field of study, zoogeography incorporates methods of molecular biology, genetics, mor ...

. While collecting near

Sarepta Sarepta (near modern Sarafand, Lebanon) was a Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast between Sidon and Tyre, also known biblically as Zarephath. It became a bishopric, which faded, and remains a double (Latin and Maronite) Catholic tit ...

, he met the German collector Rückbeil. He also met the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov who suggested that he should publish his work. He also promised his support for an expedition to the Pamirs. In 1884, he started his first Pamir expedition on which he visited the

Alai Mountains The Alay or Alai Range ( ky, Алай тоо кыркасы; russian: Алайский хребет) is a mountain range that extends from the Tien Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan west into Tajikistan. It is part of the Pamir-Alay mountain syste ...

, ascending the Trans-Alai range via Pass Tersagarsky to reach the upper Muksu River to reach Fedchenko's glacier. He visited Lake Karakul and returned. He collected 12,000 specimens, thirty of which were new to science. Spurred by the interest to his work, he made a second expedition in 1885 visiting Karateghin, Darvaz, Bukhara Khanate, Ghissar, Kulyab, Beldzhuan, Shakhrisiabz, Karshi, Guzara, Shirabad, Kabadian, and Kurgan-Tyube. This time he collected 20,000 specimens of insects. His third expedition was in 1886 along the Kara-Darya, via Pass Kugart, then up along the Naryn valley to the Narynsky Fortress (now the town of Naryn), and from there to the south toward At-Bashi and further to the southwest along the broad valley of At-Bashi River, by the At-Bashi Mt. Range, along the Great Silk Route to Tash-Rabat and Lake Chatyr-Kul. They went until Kashgar and then via Pass Irkeshtam and back to

Osh Osh (Kyrgyz: Ош, romanised Osh; uz, O‘sh/Ўш) is the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". It is the oldest city in the country (e ...

. Expeditions conducted with his younger brother Lieutenant M. E. Grum-Grshimailo between 1889 and 1890 were intended to bring back specimens of

Przewalski's horse Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of ...

. After capturing two wild horses in the vicinity of Gushen (44° N 90°30' E), and no longer afraid that shooting would frighten the animals away they managed to collect 1,048 bird specimens. They traveled 8,600 km. He made several more expeditions in the succeeding years but he later lost much of the early interest in entomology owing in part to a conflict with the sponsor of his expeditions. A term was that the materials he collected were to go to Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhaylovich Romanov, but he needed a private collection. He was accused of embezzling material and financial difficulties made him sell part of his collection to

Henry John Elwes Henry John Elwes, FRS (16 May 1846 – 26 November 1922) was a British botanist, entomologist, author, lepidopterist, collector and traveller who became renowned for collecting specimens of lilies during trips to the Himalaya and Korea. He w ...

. He was awarded the Constantine Medal in 1907 by the

Imperial Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (russian: Ру́сское географи́ческое о́бщество «РГО»), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection wi ...

Publications

;Partial list *Novae species et varietas Rhopalocerum ''Horae Societatis Entomologicae Rossicae'', 22: 303-307 (1888) *''Le Pamir et la faune lépidoptérologique. Mém. lépidop''. Ed. N. M. Romanoff 4 volumes 576 p., 21 pl. (1890) *Lepidoptera nova in Asia centrali novissime lecta et descripta ''Horae Societatis Entomologicae Rossicae''. 25 (3-4): 445-465 (1891) *Lepidoptera nova vei parum cognita regionis palaearcticae. I. Ezhegod. ''Zool Mus. Imp. Akad. Nauk'', ''Ann. Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp.'' Sc. Volume 4 (1899) (in Russian). *Lepidoptera nova vel parum cognita regionis palaearcticae. II. Ezhegod. Zool. ''Mus. Imp. Acad. Nauk'', ''Ann Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sc''., Volume 7 (1902) (in Russian)

Collections

Many of Grum-Grshimailo's specimens of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera are in the Zoological Museum in St. Petersburg. Other specimens were sold to H.J. Elwes.

Notes

References

*Grieshuber, J. & Churkin, S. (2003a): Grum-Grshimailo's journey through China with notes on some ''Colias'' taxa. ''Helios'' IV: 224-243, 1 map.

External links

LepidopterologyCollection details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grum-Grshimailo, Grigory Explorers from Saint Petersburg Geographers from the Russian Empire Scientists from Saint Petersburg 1860 births 1936 deaths Russian lepidopterists Soviet entomologists Soviet lepidopterists