Wilhelm Moritz Keferstein (7 June 1833,
Winsen (Luhe)
Winsen (Luhe) () is the capital of the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the small river Luhe, near its confluence with the Elbe, approx. 25 km southeast of Hamburg, and 20 km northwest of Lüneburg.
His ...
– 25 January 1870) was a German
naturalist. He described a number of
reptiles and
amphibians for the first time.
He originally studied
hydraulic engineering
Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the mov ...
in
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, later becoming a lecturer and professor of
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded i ...
.
With zoologist
Ernst Ehlers
Ernst Heinrich Ehlers (11 November 1835 – 31 December 1925) was a German zoologist born in Lüneburg.
He studied medicine and natural sciences at the University of Göttingen, earning his doctorate in 1861. Here he was influenced by Rudolf Wa ...
(1835-1925), he wrote ''Zoologische Beiträge gesammelt im Winter 1859/60 in Neapel und Messina...'' in 1861.
With
Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer (1829-1902) he was co-author of a study on the electric organs of ''
Gymnotus
''Gymnotus'' is a genus of Neotropical freshwater fish in the family Gymnotidae found widely in South America, Central America and southern Mexico (36th parallel south to 18th parallel north). The greatest species richness is found in the Amazo ...
'' and ''
Mormyrus
''Mormyrus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mormyridae.
Species
There are currently 22 recognized species in this genus:
* '' Mormyrus bernhardi'' Pellegrin 1926 (Bernhard's elephant-snout fish)
* '' Mormyrus caballus'' Boul ...
'' that was published in
Henle and
Pfeufer's ''Zeitschrift für rationelle Medicin'' (Journal of rational medicine). He also made important contributions to
Heinrich Georg Bronn
Heinrich Georg Bronn (3 March 1800 – 5 July 1862) was a German geologist and paleontologist. He was the first to translate Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'' into German in 1860, although not without introducing his own interpretation ...
's ''Die Klassen und Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs'' (Classes and Orders of the Animal Kingdom).
Keferstein's tree frog
The bleating tree frog (''Litoria dentata''), also known as Keferstein's tree frog, is a species of tree frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. This frog is native to coastal eastern Australia, from south-eastern Queensland
)
, nickname = S ...
is named after him (a species he described in 1868), as is a genus of
polychaetes
Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ...
, ''Kefersteinia'' (family
Hesionidae
Hesionidae are a family of phyllodocid "bristle worms" (class Polychaeta). They are (like almost all polychaetes) marine organisms. Most are found on the continental shelf; '' Hesiocaeca methanicola'' is found on methane ice, where it feeds o ...
).
See also
*
:Taxa named by Wilhelm Moritz Keferstein
References
External links
translated biography @
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
*
1833 births
1870 deaths
19th-century German zoologists
German herpetologists
Academic staff of the University of Göttingen
People from Harburg (district)
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
{{Germany-zoologist-stub