Emil Weiske (1867, Dolsenhain bei

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

– 1950,

Saalfeld Saalfeld () is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Saxon House of Wettin. Geography The town is situated ...

) was a German

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 ...

. Emil Weiske was a professional collector of insects and birds. He emigrated to California in 1890 and to Hawaii in 1892. He made expeditions to the

Fiji Islands Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

in 1894 and to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1895. He became a professional collector in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

dealing especially in birds of paradise (1895 -1900). Later expeditions were to Northeast

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

and North-

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

(1908) and then 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 ...

(mainly to the Rio Negro und Limay) and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

(mainly) Concepcion (1911). His collections were mostly birds, mammals, molluscs, reptiles and amphibians, beetles, butterflies, herbaria and ethnological artefacts. His associates were, among others George Meyer-Darcis, Carl Ribbe, Friedrich Wilhelm Niepelt, the

Otto Staudinger Otto Staudinger (2 May 1830 – 13 October 1900) was a German entomologist and a natural history dealer considered one of the largest in the world specialising in the collection and sale of insects to museums, scientific institutions, and indi ...

Staudinger & Bang-Haas dealership Walter Rothschild and Henley Grose-Smith. He maintained a private museum in Saalfeld where he gave lectures on natural history and his travels. Insects (all orders but especially

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

and

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

collected by Emil Weiske are held by Zoologische Staatssammlung München in Munich, Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde

Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum () is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major museums in Germany alongside Naturm ...

in Berlin and the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

(via the

Natural History Museum at Tring The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild; today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum, London. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptil ...

). Birds collected by Weiske are in Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde, Natural History Museum, London, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

and

Naturkundemuseum Leipzig The Natural History Museum in Leipzig () is a natural history museum in the city of Leipzig, Germany, located at the northwest corner of the Inner City Ring Road. The museum contains the insect collection of Alexander Julius Reichert. In 2014 ...

. Other collections are in

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien The Natural History Museum Vienna () is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museums and non-university research institutions in Austria and an important center of excellence for all matt ...

and Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna. He is honoured in the butterfly names '' Graphium weiskei'' and '' Delias weiskei'', the bee '' Colletes weiskei'' and the bird name New Guinea hawk-eagle (''Hieraaetus weiskei'').

References

*Brainich, H.-H. 1999: eiske, E. ''Rudolstädter Heimathefte'' 45 (11/12) 292-296, Portrait *Heyder, R. 1964: eiske, E. ''Zool. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierk. Dresden, Dresden'' 27 (5) 81 ff.
ebeac electronic index of bird collectionsZOBODAT
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External links

Stadtgeschichte-Weida
German entomologists 1950 deaths 1867 births {{Germany-biologist-stub