Carl Hunstein (1843 – March 13, 1888) was a German

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and plant collector. Hunstein was born in Homberg,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. He emigrated to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

, then relocated to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. From 1885 until his death, he was employed by the

German New Guinea Company The German New Guinea Company (german: Deutsche Neuguinea-Kompagnie) was a German Chartered Company which exploited insular territory in and near present Papua New Guinea. History In the 1870s and 1880s German commercial firms began to site ...

. He was a successful discoverer of new species of birds-of-paradise, such as the: *

Brown sicklebill The brown sicklebill (''Epimachus meyeri'') is a species of bird-of-paradise that is found in the mountain forests of New Guinea. Its appearance resembles the closely related and larger black sicklebill. In areas where these two large sicklebi ...

(''Epimachus meyeri'' Finsch), named in honor of Adolf Bernard Meyer. * Stephanie's astrapia (''Astrapia stephaniae'' Finsch & A.B. Meyer), named in honor of

Princess Stéphanie of Belgium Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium (21 May 1864 – 23 August 1945) was a Belgian royal family, Belgian princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Cro ...

. * Blue bird-of-paradise (''Paradisaea rudolphi'' Finsch), named in honor of

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph , caption = Rudolf in 1887 , spouse = , issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Franz Joseph I of Austria , mother ...

. * Emperor bird-of-paradise (''Paradisaea guilielmi''

Cabanis Cabanis is the surname of: * George Cabanis (1815-1892), American politician *Jean Cabanis (1816–1906), German ornithologist * José Cabanis (1922–2000), French writer, historian and magistrate *Pierre Jean George Cabanis Pierre Jean Georges ...

). Hunstein died when a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

, caused by a

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridge ...

, hit the coast of

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the D ...

of the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

. He is commemorated in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

by the Hunstein Mountains and the Hunstein Forest, and in plants and animals including the Hunstein's mannikin ('' Lonchura hunsteini''), '' Cyathea hunsteiniana'' and '' Araucaria hunsteinii''.

References

1843 births 1888 deaths German ornithologists Deaths in volcanic eruptions Deaths in tsunamis German emigrants to the United States German emigrants to New Zealand {{ornithologist-stub

See also

References