Adolph Reuss (November 28, 1804 in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
– May 7, 1878) was a German-American physician and
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 ...
, known for his work in the fields of
herpetology
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning " reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and r ...
and
arachnology
Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of ...
.
He studied at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded i ...
, earning his medical doctorate in 1825. Following graduation, he served as a doctor in Frankfurt, also becoming involved with zoological research at the
Senckenberg Museum
The Naturmuseum Senckenberg is a museum of natural history, located in Frankfurt am Main. It is the second-largest of its type in Germany. The museum contains a large and diverse collection of birds with 90,000 bird skins, 5,050 egg sets, 17,0 ...
. He later emigrated to the United States, where in 1834, he purchased a 200 acre farm near
Shiloh, Illinois. In rural Illinois, he worked as a farmer, and in meantime, maintained a successful medical practice. At the time of his death, his estate had grown in size to 450 acres of land.
Since 1829, he was a member of the ''Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft'', and in September 1856, he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of
St. Louis. While serving at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, he edited a collection of manuscripts in the field of arachnology that was a catalyst towards the first Senckenberg publication (''Museum Senckenbergianum'').
He described a number of herpetological species, such as ''
Enhydris alternans
''Enhydris'' is a genus of slightly venomous, rear-fanged, snakes in the family Homalopsidae. The genus is endemic to the tropical area of Indo-Australian region.
Species
The following 6 species are recognized:
* '' Enhydris chanardi'' ...
'', sometimes referred to as "Reuss' water snake".
Publications
* "Dissertatio inauguralis anatomico-physiologica de systemate lentis crysallinae
ichumanae", 1825 (dissertation).
* ''Zoologische Miscellen. Reptilien. Ophidier'', 1833 - Zoological miscellany;
Reptiles, snakes.
* ''Zoologische Miscellen : Arachniden'', 1834 - Zoological miscellany;
Arachnid
Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals ( arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and ...
s.
* ''Zoologische Miscellen / Saurier, Batrachier'' Museum senckenbergianum, 1834 - Zoological miscellany;
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia al ...
s,
amphibians
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arb ...
.
WorldCat Identities
(published works)
References
* This article incorporates translated text from an equivalent article at the Spanish Wikipedia
The Spanish Wikipedia ( es, Wikipedia en español) is a Spanish-language edition of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. It has articles. Started in May 2001, it reached 100,000 articles on March 8, 2006 and 1,000,000 articles on May 16, 201 ...
.
1804 births
1878 deaths
German herpetologists
German arachnologists
Physicians from Frankfurt
University of Göttingen alumni
Scientists from Frankfurt
19th-century German zoologists
{{Germany-zoologist-stub