Alexander Strauch (1 March 1832, in

Saint 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 ...

– 14 August 1893, in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, Germany) was a Russian naturalist, most notably a

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

. In 1861 he started working as a

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 zoological museum at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. From 1879 to 1890 he was director of the museum. He is credited with establishing St. Petersburg as a major world center in the field of herpetology.

Taxa named after Strauch

Taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

with the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

of ''strauchi'' or ''strauchii'' commemorate his name, five examples being: *'' Blanus strauchi'' ( Bedriaga, 1884) *'' Ctenotus strauchii'' ( Boulenger, 1887) *'' Eremias strauchi'' Kessler, 1878 *'' Gloydius strauchi'' (Bedriaga, 1912) *'' Phrynocephalus strauchi'' Nikolsky, 1899. ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A Taxon author in parentheses indicates that the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

was originally described in a different

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

. His zoologist author abbreviation is Strauch.

Selected works

* ''Die Vertheilung der Schildkröten über den Erdball : ein zoogeographischer Versuch'', 1865 – The distribution of turtles across the globe, etc. * ''Synopsis der Viperiden : nebst Bemerkungen über die geographische Verbreitung dieser Giftschlangen-Familie'', 1869 – Synopsis of

Viperidae Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous snake, venomous and have long (relat ...

. * ''Revision der Salamandriden-Gattungen nebst Beschreibung einiger neuen oder weniger bekannten Arten dieser Familie'', 1870 – Revision of Salamandridae genera along with descriptions of some new or lesser known species within the family.Hathitrust
Revision der Salamandriden-Gattungen, etc.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauch, Alexander Russian naturalists Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences 1832 births 1893 deaths Scientists from Saint Petersburg