Anton Polenec (7 October 1910 – 30 October 2000) was a Slovene

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and specialist

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, ticks, and mites. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly ...

. Polenec was born in Puštal near

Škofja Loka Škofja Loka (; ) is a town in Slovenia. It is the economic, cultural, educational, and administrative center of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in Upper Carniola. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Geography Škofja Loka lies at an elevation of ...

in 1910. He studied at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

and later taught zoology and was head of the Natural History Museum of Slovenia from 1955 to 1980. He studied and described over 500 species of

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

s including a new genus '' Centrophantes''. The spider genus ''

Polenecia ''Polenecia'' is a genus of spiders in the family Uloboridae Uloboridae is a family of non- venomous spiders, known as cribellate orb weavers or hackled orb weavers. Their lack of venom glands is a secondarily evolved trait. Instead, they wrap ...

'' is named after Polenec. Apart from scientific contributions he also wrote numerous

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

books for young readers and won the

Levstik Award The Levstik Award () is a literary award in Slovenia awarded for achievements in children's literature. It has been bestowed since 1949 by the Mladinska Knjiga Publishing House, making it the first literary award established by a Slovene publishin ...

twice, in 1950 for his book ''Iz življenja žuželk'' (The Lives of Insects) and in 1952 for ''Iz življenja pajkov'' (The Life of Spiders).

References

1910 births 2000 deaths Slovenian zoologists Arachnologists Levstik Award laureates University of Ljubljana alumni Yugoslav zoologists People from the Municipality of Škofja Loka {{zoologist-stub