Friedrich Ferdinand Christian Peus or Fritz Peus ( 22 April 1904,

Siegen Siegen () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg region. The university town (n ...

- 17 November 1978,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German

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 ...

who specialised in

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 ...

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

and

Siphonaptera Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, are ...

. He was a specialist on the fleas. Peus was born in Siegen and from 1923 to 1927 Peus studied zoology, botany and physics at the University of

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

. He received a doctorate in 1927 and specialized in blood-sucking Diptera. During the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, Peus was engaged as an Army entomologist and was employed in

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

research alongside Eduard May in

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. He had joined the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

party in 1940. Peus was later Director of the

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 ...

Berlin becoming curator of Diptera and Siphonaptera in 1949. He was also Professor for special zoology at the

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

of Berlin and from 1962 up to his retirement in 1969 Professor of applied zoology at the

Freie Universität Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. Peus had a personal flea collection of nearly 9700 slides which included type specimens. He described two genera and nearly 66 species. This collection is now in the Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Genève.

Works

partial list *Erich Martini, Fritz Peus,Werner Reichmuth (1952) ''Lehrbuch der medizinischen Entomologie'' Jena : G. Fischer *Peus F. (1958) 10a. Tanyderidae 10b. Liriopeidae. Lindner E. (Ed.) Die ''Fliegen der paläarktischen Region'', 3, Lieferung 200: 1–44. *Peus F. (1960) Zur Kenntnis der ornithoparasitischen Phormiinen (Diptera, Calliphoridae) ''Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift'' Volume 7, Issue 3, pages 193–235, 1960 DOI: 10.1002/mmnd.19600070302 *Peus F. (2003) Stechmücken. (= Die Neue Brehm – Bücherei. Band 22). Hohenwarsleben 2003, . (Nachdruck der Auflage von 1951 bei Westarp-Wissenschaften-Verlagsgesellschaft)

References

*Merz, B. F.; Hollier, J.; Schwendinger, P. 2011: The entomology collections of the Geneva Natural History Museum Antenna ''Bulletin of the Royal Entomological Society of London'', London 35 (498): 163-168 *Steffan, A. W. 1976 eus, F.''Entomologica Germanica''. Zeitschrift für das Gesamtgebiet der wissenschaftlichen Entomologie, Stuttgart 2, S. 388-393, B15 11838
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External links

Biography
German entomologists 1978 deaths 1904 births 20th-century German zoologists {{Germany-biologist-stub