Jan Adrianus Herklots (born 17 August 1820 in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

, Zeeland; died 31 March 1872 in

Zoeterwoude Zoeterwoude () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Western Netherlands. It covers of which is water. It had a population of in . Located to the southeast of Leiden ...

) was a Dutch zoologist whose main areas of research were

carcinology Carcinology is a branch of zoology that consists of the study of crustaceans. Crustaceans are a large class of arthropods classified by having a hard exoskeleton made of chitin or chitin and calcium, three body regions, and jointed, paired appendag ...

and the

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s . Herklots studied medicine and biology at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

. In 1846 he was appointed as curator of invertebrates at the

Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (National Museum of Natural History) was a museum on the Rapenburg in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1820 by Royal Decree from a merger of several existing collections including Temminck's own ...

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, succeeding

Wilhem de Haan Wilhem de Haan (7 February 1801 in Amsterdam – 15 April 1855 in Leiden) was a Dutch zoologist. He specialised in the study of insects and crustaceans, including aquatic arthropods, and was the first keeper of invertebrates at the Rijksmuseum i ...

, a position which he held until his death in 1872, his successor was Christiaan Karel Hoffmann. In June 1851 he graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy, and his dissertation was entitled ''Additamenta ad faunam carcinologicam Africa occidentalis'' on the crustaceans from the Guinea coast, based on samples brought to the Netherlands by Hendrik Pel. In 1861 he published a museum catalogue of crustaceans from the system of

. He was also the author of important works on

coelenterates Coelenterata is a term encompassing the animal phylum, phyla Cnidaria (coral, corals, Scyphozoa, true jellies, Sea anemone, sea anemones, sea pens, and their relatives) and Ctenophora (comb jellies). The name comes , referring to the hollow body ...

, especially

sea pen Sea pens are marine cnidarians belonging to the superfamily Pennatuloidea, which are colony-forming benthic filter feeders within the order Scleralcyonacea. There are 14 families within the order and 35 extant genera, and it is estimated a ...

s (Pennatulacea), and both modern and fossil taxa of echinoderms. In 1854 the Museum established its divided the Department of Invertebrates into a Department of Non-Articulata, of which Herklots remained the curator and a Department of Articulata where

Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven Samuel Constant Snellen van Vollenhoven (18 October 1816, Rotterdam – 22 March 1880) was a Dutch entomologist. He is not to be confused with Pieter Cornelius Tobias Snellen another entomologist from Rotterdam. He was curator of the entomologic ...

(1816-1880) was curator. In July 1860, the Department of Invertebrates was reorganized and van Vollenhoven became head of the entomological department, while Herklots became head of Arthropoda Non-Insecta, the position he held until his death. Herklots provided important contributions on invertebrate animals. His work was somewhat overshadowed by that of de Haan. However, in contrast to De Haan, Herklots was very interested in the Dutch invertebrate fauna. The Natural History Museum in Leiden has several invertebrate specimens collected by Herklots on Noordwijk beach. Herklots married Antoinetta Johanna Agatha Susanna, the daughter of the former museum director Joannes Andreas Susanna. Herklots was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, the Dutch Society of Sciences in Haarlem, and several other learned societies. He died in 1872 after a long illness, probably tuberculosis.

Selected works

*Herklots, J. A., 1853 Bouwstoffen voor eene fauna van Nederland, onder medewerking van onderscheidene geleerden en beoefenaars der dierkunde, bijeenverzameld door J. A. Herklots. E. J. Brill, Leiden * Herklots, J.A., 1858. Notices pour servir à l'étude des polypiers nageurs ou pennatulides. ''Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde'' 7: 1-31 * Herklots, J.A., 1863. Descriptions de deux espèces nouvelles de pennatulides des Mers de la Chine. ''Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor de Dierkunde'' 1: 31-34

Taxa named after Herklots

The slipper lobster '' Scyllarides herklotsii'' was described by Herklots in his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden. The

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

herring genus '' Herklotsichthys'' is named after Herklots.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herklots, Jan Adrianus 1820 births 1872 deaths Dutch carcinologists Dutch curators Dutch zoologists Leiden University alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Middelburg, Zeeland