Leander (Franz) Czerny (4 October 1859 – 22 November 1944) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

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 priest. He was mainly interested in

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 ...

Biography

Czerny was born on 4 October 1859 in

Modřice Modřice (; ) is a town in Brno-Country District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,800 inhabitants. Geography Modřice is located about south of Brno. It lies in the Dyje–Svratka Valley. It is situated on the ri ...

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

. Czerny, who wrote extensively on Diptera between 1900 and 1939, describing many

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 ...

and

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, was a major contributor to

Erwin Lindner Erwin Lindner (7 April 1888 – 30 November 1988) was a German entomologist mainly interested in Diptera. He was born in Böglins, Memmingen, and died in Stuttgart, at age 100 years. In 1913, Erwin Lindner joined the State Museum of Natural His ...

's ''Die Fliegen der paläarktischen Region'' ("The Flies of the Palaearctic Region"), the most significant work on the group in the 20th century. Czerny wrote the sections on the following families:- *

Heleomyzidae The Heleomyzidae is a small family of true flies in the insect order Diptera. Over 740 described species of Heleomyzidae occur in about 76 generaPape, Thomas, Vladimir Blagoderov, and Michail B. Mostovski. "Order Diptera Linnaeus, 1758." Anima ...

, Trichoscelidae,

Chyromyidae Chyromyidae are small to very small cyclorrhaphous, acalyptrate flies (Diptera) currently classified within the Heleomyzoidea by most authors. The majority have a pale yellow integument and bright iridescent green, red or purple eyes. The family ...

(1927) *

Anthomyzidae Anthomyzidae is small, slender, yellow to black Fly, flies with narrow and elongated wings, which may have distinct markings. Some species have greatly reduced wings. Fewer than 100 species are known, mostly from Europe. Although they occur in a ...

Opomyzidae Opomyzidae is a family of Acalyptratae, acalyptrate Fly, Diptera. They are generally small, slender, yellow, brown or black coloured flies. The larval food plants are grasses, including cereal crops, the adults are mainly found in open habitats. ...

Tethinidae Tethininae, formally the family Tethinidae is a paraphyletic group of tiny drab-coloured or grey Acalyptratae flies. There are over 115 species in 7 genera known from all zoogeographic regions. They are inconspicuous flies which are still poorly ...

Clusiidae Clusiidae or "druid flies" is a family of small (~ 3.5 mm), thin, yellow to black acalyptrate flies with a characteristic antenna (The second segment of the antennae has a triangular projection over the third segment when viewed from the o ...

(1928) *

Micropezidae The Micropezidae are a moderate-sized family of acalyptrate muscoid flies in the insect order Diptera, comprising about 500 species in about 50 genera and five subfamilies worldwide, (except New Zealand and Macquarie Island).McAlpine, D.K. (199 ...

(Tylidae), Neridrinae,

Platypezidae Platypezidae is a family (biology), family of Fly, true flies of the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Platypezoidea. The more than 250 species are Cosmopolitan distribution, found worldwide primarily in woodland habitats. A common name is flat-foote ...

(as Clythiidae),

Dryomyzidae The Dryomyzidae are a small family of flies ranging from 4–18 mm long, with prominent bristles, and yellow to brown or rust-yellow coloring. The wings are very large. The subcosta is complete and well separated from vein 1. Larvae feed on ...

, Neottiophilidae (1930) *

Lauxaniidae The Lauxaniidae are a family of Acalyptratae, acalyptrate fly, flies. They generally are small flies (length 7 mm or less) with large compound eyes that often are brightly coloured in life, sometimes with characteristic horizontal stripes, s ...

(Sapromyzidae) (1932) * Musidoridae (

Lonchopteridae The Lonchopteridae (spear-winged flies or pointed-wing flies) are a family of small (2–5 mm), slender, yellow to brownish-black Diptera, occurring all over the world. Their common name refers to their pointed wings, which have a distinc ...

Lonchaeidae The Lonchaeidae are a family of acalyptrate flies commonly known as lance flies. 610 described species are placed into 10 genera. These are generally small but robustly built flies with blue-black or metallic bodies. They are found, most common ...

(1934) *

Chamaemyiidae The Chamaemyiidae are a small family of acalyptrate flies with less than 200 species described worldwide. The larvae of these small flies are active and predatory and are often used for biological control of aphids, scale insects, and simi ...

( Ochthiphilidae) (1936) He was also abbot of the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Kremsmünster Abbey Kremsmünster Abbey () is a Benedictine monastery located in Kremsmünster, Upper Austria. History Founded in 777 AD by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria, Kremsmünster Abbey is steeped in legend. It is said that Tassilo established the abbey on t ...

from 1905 to 1929 and collected there as well as in

Pettenbach Pettenbach is a municipality in the district of Kirchdorf an der Krems in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Pettenbach lies in the Traunviertel The Traunviertel is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria. It is ...

on the Upper

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. As well as Diptera he collected

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 ...

. His collections of both are now in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. He died on 22 November 1944 in Pettenbach, at the age of 85.

External links

Biography

BHL
Spanische Dipteren Spanische Dipteren. Gesammelt und bearbeitet von Prof. Gabriel Strobl in Admont. VII. Theil.. 1898-1909 Volume 3
Spanische Dipteren Volume 7
1859 births 1944 deaths People from Modřice 20th-century Austrian biologists Austrian entomologists Dipterists Austrian abbots Austrian Benedictines Moravian-German people Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Austrian people of Czech descent 20th-century Christian abbots {{Austria-academic-bio-stub