Arnold Spuler (1 June 1869,

Durmersheim Durmersheim is a small town in the district of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Southwest Germany and has a population of 12,112 (2020). Durmersheim is situated between Karlsruhe and Rastatt, in the valley of the river Rhine near the border to Fr ...

– 15 March 1937, Aidenried,

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and s ...

) was a German physician, an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

and a politician.

Biography

After attending the gymnasium in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the German States of Germany, state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital o ...

, Spuler was drafted in the 30th Regiment of Field Artillery of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden ...

( XIV Corps of the German Empire) from 1887 to 1888. He then studied natural sciences and medicine in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. In 1891 he graduated and in 1893 he was qualified to practice as a physician. In the autumn of the same year he became assistant of the Institute of Anatomy at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. In 1896 he obtained the

libera docenza Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

and in 1903 he became an extraordinary professor. From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

as a medical officer. After the war he enrolled in the

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in ...

(DNVP). In 1920 he became full professor of

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vi ...

and

ontogenesis Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to the stu ...

at the

. From 1920 to 1924 he was deputy of his party in the Bavarian Parliament and from December 1924 to May 1928 in the National Parliament of the

Weimar Republic The German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic,, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also r ...

, where he represented his constituency (Upper Bavaria and Swabia).

Scientific activity

Spuler wrote treatises on anatomy, ontogeny, biology and zoology, and books on Lepidoptera. The multi-volume work ''Die Schmetterlinge Europas'' (The Lepidoptera of Europe) of 1908 was for decades a standard in the study of Lepidoptera.

Works

(in German ) *''Zur Phylogenie und Ontogenie des Flügelgeäders der Schmetterlinge''. 1892. *''Beiträge zur Histologie und Histiogenese der Binde- und Stützsubstanz''. Wiesbaden 1896. *''Beiträge zur Histogenese des Mesenchyms''. 1897. *''Übersicht der lepidopteren-Fauna des Grossherzogtums''. Baden 1898. *''Über die Teilungserscheinungen der Eizelle in degenerierenden Follikeln des Säugerovariums''. Wiesbaden 1901. *''Die Raupen der Schmetterlinge Europas''. 1904. *''Die Schmetterlinge Europas''. 1908. (with

Ernst Hofmann Ernst Karl Heinrich Hofmann (7 December 1880 – 27 April 1945) was a German stage and film actor. Selected filmography * ''The White Roses'' (1916) * '' Dr. Hart's Diary'' (1917) * '' Countess Kitchenmaid'' (1918) * ''Ikarus, the Flying Man'' ...

) *''Die sogenannten Kleinschmetterlinge Europas einschließlich der primitiven Familien der sogenannten Grossschmetterlinge, sowie der Nolidae, Syntomidae, Nycteolidae und Arctiidae''. Stuttgart 1913. (dissertation)

References

*Horn, W.: 1937, puler, A. '' Arbeiten über morphologische und taxonomische entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem'', 4(3): 241. *Anonym: 1937, ''Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift''. 51, 54. *Derksen, W., Scheiding – Göllner, U., 1975: ''Index Litteraturae Entomologicae'' *Gaedike, R. & Groll, E. K. eds. 2001, ''Entomologen der Welt'' (Biografien, Sammlungsverbleib). Datenbank, DEI Eberswalde im ZALF e. V.: Spuler Arnold. 1937 deaths 1869 births German lepidopterists {{Germany-biologist-stub