Gustav L. Mayr (12 October 1830 – 14 July 1908) was an Austrian

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 ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He specialised in

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 ...

, being particularly known for his studies of

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s.1908. Obituary. Prof. Gustav Mayr. Entomological News 19:396
Bibliography In 1868, he was the first to describe the Argentine ant. He is credited with naming the harvesting ant species, ''Aphaenogaster treatae'', for naturalist Mary Davis Treat, in honor of her research on the species.Early American Nature Writers: A Biographical Encyclopedia
edited by Daniel Patterson, Roger Thompson, J. Scott Bryson

Life and career

Mayr was born into the family of a lawyer, Ignaz Mayr, and his wife, née Rosalie Holzer, in Vienna. After completing classical high school and studying at the faculty of philosophy, Mayr began studying medicine in Vienna. From 1851, he was a member of the Vienna Botanical and Zoological Society (Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft). He was a doctor of medicine in 1856, then taught natural sciences and chemistry in secondary schools in Pest, but he lost his post in 1861, because of the Magyarization laws which prohibited teaching in German in Hungarian secondary schools. He moved to Vienna, where he taught natural history in an Oberrealschule, until his retirement in 1892. The honorary title of imperial advisor (kaiserlicher Rat) was then awarded to him, after having received the golden cross of merit in 1876. Mayr was passionate about entomology and in particular about the Hymenoptera, and specialised in the

systematics Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...

of ants. He donated one of his collections of hymenopterans, bringing together 1,350 species represented by around 5,500 specimens, to the

Natural History Museum, Vienna 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 ...

, in 1896. Another collection of 2,180 species of ants, and other collections of insects was bequeathed by him in his will to the Vienna Botanical and Zoological Society, but they later sold it to the museum, not having the facilities to maintain it. Between 1862 and 1901, he described 58

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

of ants (including ''

Acromyrmex ''Acromyrmex'' is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This genus is found in South America and parts of Central America, México and the Caribbean Islands, and contains 33 known species. Commonly known as " leafcutter ants" th ...

'', ''

Anochetus ''Anochetus'' is a genus of small, carnivorous ants found in the tropics and subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the ...

'', '' Aphaenogaster'', ''

Camponotus Carpenter ants (''Camponotus'' spp.) are a genus of large ants (workers ) indigenous to many parts of the world. True carpenter ants build nests inside wood, consisting of galleries chewed out with their mandibles or jaws, preferably in dead, ...

'', ''

Formicoxenus ''Formicoxenus'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Species * ''Formicoxenus chamberlini'' (Wheeler, 1904) * '' Formicoxenus diversipilosus'' (Smith, 1939) * '' Formicoxenus hirticornis'' (Emery, 1895) * '' Formicoxenus nitidulus'' ...

'', '' Leptothorax'', '' Monomorium'', and ''

Tetramorium ''Tetramorium'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae that includes more than 520 species. These ants are also known as pavement ants. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Tetramorium'' was first described by Gustav Mayr in 1855 in the same publi ...

'') and over 500 new species of ants. He also described unique collections of fossil ants preserved in

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

(1868), ants from Tibet brought back by the expeditions of Nikolay Przhevalsky, and ants from Turkestan collected by explorer Alexei Fedchenko. He was responsible for writing the zoological part concerning ants in the travel report of the Austrian Imperial Novara expedition that circumnavigated the world between 1857 and 1859. He died in Vienna.

Works

Mayr's works include: * ''Formicidae er Novara-Expedition' (Ants of the Novara Expedition). Vienna 1865. * ''Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins'' (The Ants of Baltic Amber). Königsberg: Koch, 1868. * ''Feigeninsecten'' (Fig Insects). Vienna: Hölder, 1885. * ''Hymenopterologische Miscellen'' (Hymenopteran Miscellanea). Vienna: Hölder, 1902. * ''Formiciden aus Ägypten und dem Sudan'' (Ants from Egypt and Sudan). (1903).

References

Portrait Obits.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayr, Gustav 1830 births 1908 deaths Naturalists from Austria-Hungary Scientists from Vienna Austrian entomologists Hymenopterists Myrmecologists 19th-century Austrian physicians 20th-century Austrian physicians