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Leo Zehntner (19 December 1864 in
Reigoldswil Reigoldswil is a municipality in the district of Waldenburg in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Reigoldswil is first mentioned in 1152 as ''Rigoltswilre''. Geography Reigoldswil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 46.2% ...
– 3 April 1961 in
Liestal Liestal (, Standard ), formerly spelled Liesthal, is the capital of Liestal District and the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, south of Basel. Liestal is an industrial town with a Cobbled street, cobbled-street ...
) was a Swiss
naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
.


Biography

He studied natural sciences in
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
and
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
, and following graduation (1890), he worked as an assistant to
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 ...
Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure (; ; 27 November 1829 – 20 February 1905) was a Swiss people, Swiss mineralogist, taxonomist and entomologist specialising in studies of hymenopteroid and Polyneoptera, orthopteroid insects. Education, ca ...
in
Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
. In 1894 he began work as a
zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
at the
Pasuruan Pasuruan () is a city in East Java Province of Java, Indonesia. It had a population of 186,262 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 208,006 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at ...
inspection station on
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
, where he dealt with pests that plagued
sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
plantations. In 1901 in
Salatiga Salatiga () is a Cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of and had a population of 192,322 at the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at m ...
(Java) he opened an inspection station for cacao cultivation.Zürich Herbaria
(biography)
Dizionario storico della Svizzera
(biography)
From 1906 to 1918 he served as director of the agricultural institute for the State of Bahia in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, during which, he is credited with the discovery of eight new plant species. In 1920 he returned to Europe, and from 1926 to 1941, he served as mayor of the town of Reigoldswil. The Malagasy
millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...
genus ''Zehntnerobolus'' commemorates his name, as does taxa with the specific epithet of ''zehntneri'', an example being the
cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...
species '' Quiabentia zehntneri''.


Selected works

* ''Histoire naturelle des orthoptères'', 1895 (with Henri de Saussure) – Natural history of
Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...
. * ''De plantenluizen van het suikerriet op Java'', 1899. * ''Myriopoden aus madagaskar und Zanzibar; gesammelt von Dr. A. Voeltzkow'', 1901 (with Henri de Saussure) –
Myriapoda Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. Although molecular evidence and similar fossils suggests a diversifi ...
of
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
and
Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
; collected by Alfred Voeltzkow. * ''Le cacaoyer dans l'état de Bahia'', 1914 – On cacao in the State of Bahia. * ''Estudo sobre as maniçobas do estado da Bahia, em relação ao problema das seccas'', 1914.HathiTrust Digital Library
(published works)


Bibliography

* *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zehntner, Leo 1864 births 1961 deaths Swiss naturalists Swiss entomologists People from Basel-Landschaft