Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 ...

. Fitzinger was born in

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. ...

and studied

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

under

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Par ...

. He worked at the Vienna

Naturhistorisches Museum 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 ...

between 1817, when he joined as a volunteer assistant, and 1821, when he left to become secretary to the provincial legislature of

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

; after a hiatus, he was appointed assistant curator in 1844 and remained at the Naturhistorisches Museum until 1861. Later, he became director of the zoos of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

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 ...

. In 1826, he published ''Neue Classification der Reptilien'', based partly on the work of his friends Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich and

Heinrich Boie Heinrich Boie (4 May 1794, Meldorf, Holstein – 4 September 1827, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia) was a German zoologist. He was the brother of Friedrich Boie. In the field of herpetology they described 49 new species of reptiles and several ne ...

. In 1843, he published ''Systema Reptilium'', covering

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

s and

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

s. Fitzinger is commemorated in the scientific names of five reptiles: '' Algyroides fitzingeri'', '' Leptotyphlops fitzingeri'', '' Liolaemus fitzingerii'', '' Micrurus tener fitzingeri'', and ''

Oxyrhopus fitzingeri ''Oxyrhopus fitzingeri'', also known commonly as Fitzinger's false coral snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to northwestern South America. There are two recognized subspecies. Etymology The specific na ...

''. WorksAs given in th
website of the ''Naturhistorisches Museum Wien''
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1826). ''Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. zoologischen Museum's zu Wien'' (New classification of reptiles according to their natural relationships, appended to a table of their relationships and a sketch of the reptile collection of the imperial and royal zoological museum of Vienna). Vienna: J.G. Hübner. vii + 66 pp. + one plate. (in German and Latin). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1835). ''Entwurf einer systematischen Anordnung der Schildkröten nach den Grundsätzen der natürlichen Methode'' (Draft of a systematic arrangement of turtles based on the principles of the natural method). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1843). ''Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae''. Vienna: Braumüller et Seidel. 106 pp. + indices (in Latin). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1850). ''Über den'' Proteus anguinus ''der Autoren'' (On the author's '' Proteus anguinus''). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1861). A catalog of the reptiles and amphibians collected during the ''Novara'' expedition.

Notes

Austrian taxonomists 1802 births 1884 deaths Austrian herpetologists Scientists from Vienna University of Vienna alumni * Zoologists from the Austrian Empire Zoologists from Austria-Hungary {{Austria-scientist-stub

See also

Notes