Carlos Berg (, ) or Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg (, ) (21 March 1843,

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

– 19 January 1902

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

) was an Argentine

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

of Latvian and

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

origin. Having worked a few years in trade, he moved to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

in 1865 and became curator of the entomological department of the Riga Museum, and then at the

Riga Technical University Riga Technical University (RTU) () is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as Riga Polytechnical Institute and Riga Polytechnicum. In 1 ...

. In 1873, he was invited by

Hermann Burmeister Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister) (15 January 1807 – 2 May 1892) was a German Argentine zoologist, entomologist, herpetologist, botany, botanist, and coleopterologist. He served as a professor at ...

(1807–1892), director of the Museum of Buenos Aires, to join him in Argentina. As early as 1874, Berg began an expedition to

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

to collect specimens for the museum. This first collecting trip was followed by others through Argentina, also in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Apart from a period of two years from 1890 to 1892, spent at the Museo Nacional in Montevideo, he was based in Buenos Aires. He replaced Burmeister as the head of the museum in 1892. His first specialty was entomology, but he was also dedicated to

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

and the study of

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. Amongst his many other achievements, he described ''

Cactoblastis cactorum ''Cactoblastis cactorum'', the cactus moth, South American cactus moth or nopal moth, is native to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil. It is one of five species in the genus ''Cactoblastis'' that inhabit South America, where many par ...

'', the cactus moth. Berg was a fellow of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

and a corresponding member of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

Works

*1875 Lepidópteros patagónicos. Observados en el viage de 1874 ''Acta Acad. Nac. Cordova'', 1 (4): 63-102, (7): 155-158 Suplemento a la descripción de los lepidópteros patagónicos *1875 Patagonische Lepidopteren beobachtet auf einer Reise im Jahre 1874 ''Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou'' 49 (4) : 191-247 *1879: ''

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from ...

argentina enumeravit speciesque novas descripsit Carolus Berg'' Bonariae,ex typographiae P.E. Coni *1877 Contribución al estudio de la fauna entomológica de Patagonia ''An. Soc. Cient. Argent.'' 4 (2): 87-102, : 199-211 *1877 Beiträge zu den Lepidoptoren Patagoniens ''Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou'' 52 (3) : 1-22 *1877 Estudios Lepidopterológicus acerce de la fauna Argentina y oriental ''An. Soc. cient. Argent.'' 3 : 228-242, pl. *1877 Descriptions de deux nouveaux Lépidoptères de la famille des Arctiadae ''Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr.'' (5) 7 : 189-194 *1880 :Observaciones acerca de la Familia Hyponomeutidae. ''Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina''. 1880;10:99–109. *1885: Lepidoptera Nova, Faunae reipublicae Argentinae et Uruguayensis ''An. Soc. cient. argent.'' 19 : 266-285 *1889 : Substitucion de nombres genericos. III. Comm. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, 1 : 77-80. *1896 : Batraccios Argentinos. *1898 : Contribuciones... Fauna Erpetologica Argentina.

References

Sources

* Anonym 1902 erg, F. W. K.''

Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' is a British entomological journal, founded by a staff of five editors – T. Blackburn, H. G. Knaggs, M.D., R. McLachlan, F.L.S., E. C. Rye and H. T. Stainton – and first published in 1864. The journal ...

'' (3), London 38:114 * Gallardo, A. 1897 erg, F. W. K.''An. Soc. Cient. Argent., Buenos Aires'' 43 : 274-279, Portrait * Osborn, H. 1937 ''Fragments of Entomological History Including Some Personal Recollections of Men and Events'' Columbus, Ohio, Published by the Author 1 : 1-394, 47 * Groll, E. K. (Hrsg.): Biografien der Entomologen der Welt : Datenbank. Version 4.15 : Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, 201
Berg, Friedrich Wilhelm Karl

External links

Works by Berg at BHL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Carlos Entomologists from the Russian Empire 1902 deaths 1843 births Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Argentina People from Tukums Academic staff of Riga Technical University Academics from Riga

Works

See also

References

Sources

External links