Peter Jörgensen ("Pedro Jorgensen") (3 August 1870 in Sønderby,

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

– 15 April 1937 in

Villarrica, Paraguay Villarrica del Espíritu Santo (), is a city in Paraguay. Located in the middle of the Eastern Region of Paraguay, it is the capital and most populous city of Guairá Department. It is located to the center west of Guairá and is bordered to th ...

) was a Danish early 20th century

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 ...

, active particularly in Argentina and Paraguay.

Life

Peter Jörgensen was educated as a teacher of English and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

in 1889. In 1892, he contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

— a condition he suffered from throughout the remainder of his life. In 1906, he joined his friend Anders Christian Jensen-Haarup on a trip to the

Mendoza Province Mendoza (), officially the Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the r ...

in western

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in the hope that the arid

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

climate would be beneficial to his health. The two

naturalists 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 ...

made extensive

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

collections, which were either sold (e.g. to the German entomologist

Heinrich Friese Heinrich Friedrich August Karl Ludwig Friese (4 May 1860, Schwerin – 8 September 1948, Schwerin) was a German biologist and entomologist, a specialist of bees (melittology, melittologist).

Friese 1908) to cover their travel expenses or were sent to specialists for identification. They also published short accounts (in Danish) of their adventures in Argentina. Jörgensen moved on to Paraguay, where he settled near Villarrica. He committed his life to a small farm and further entomological research. He also became a plant collector for several American museums. He was found murdered at his farm in April 1937.

Bibliography

* Jørgensen, P. (1906): Beitrag zur Biologie der Blattwespen (Chalastogastra). Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Insektenbiologie, 2: 347–351. * Jørgensen, P. (1906): De danske Arter af Bladhvepseslægten Pontania Costa (Chalastogastra). - Entomologiske Meddelelser, 3: 113–126. * Jörgensen, P. (1909) Beobachtungen über Blumenbesuch, Biologie, Verbreitung usw. Der Bienen von Mendoza. (Hym.). Teil I. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 1909, Heft 1: 53–65
Full text
* Jörgensen, P. (1909) Beobachtungen über Blumenbesuch, Biologie, Verbreitung usw. Der Bienen von Mendoza. (Hym.). Teil II. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 1909, Heft 2: 211–227
Full text
* Kieffer, J.J. & Jörgensen, P. (1910) Gallen und Gallentiere aus Argentinien. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde (Abt. 2), 27: 362–444. Here, a new species was described as ''Centrodiplosis falcigera'' Jorgensen & Kieffer, which Kieffer subsequently moved to a newly erected genus ''

Jorgensenia ''Geriojennsa'' is a monotypic moth genus in the subfamily Arctiinae erected by Watson, Fletcher and Nye in 1980. Its single species, ''Geriojennsa cunegunda'', was first described by William Schaus in 1924. It is found in Argentina Arge ...

'', named so in the honour of Peter Jörgensen. * Jörgensen, P. (1912) Los crisídidos y los Himenópteros aculeatos de la Provincia de Mendoza. Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, 22: 267–338
Full text
* Jörgensen, P. (1912) Beitrag zur Biologie einiger südamerikanischer Bienen, Anhang. Beschreibung von Megalopta (Megaloptella) ipomoeae n. sp. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Insektenbiologie, 8: 268–272
Full text
* Jörgensen, P. (1912) Revision der Apiden der Provinz Mendoza, Republica Argentina (Hym.). Zoologisches Jahrbuch, Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere, 32: 89–162
Full text
* Jörgensen, P. (1912) Berichtigungen und Ergänzungen sur "Revision der Apiden der Provinz Mendoza, Republica Argentina (Hym.)". Zoologisches Jahrbuch, Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere, 33: 643–644. * Jörgensen, P. (1913): Los Tenthredinoidea (Hym.) de la República Argentina. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Buenos Aires, 24: 247-288 + 3 plates. * Jörgensen, P. (1916): Las mariposas Argentinas (Lepidoptera): familia Pieridae. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Buenos Aires, 28: 427–520. * Jörgensen, P. (1921): Sobre algunos nuevos enemigos de la yerba maté,

Ilex paraguariensis Yerba mate or yerba maté (), ''Ilex paraguariensis'', is a plant species of the holly genus native to South America. It was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire. The leaves of the plant can be steeped in hot water to make a bev ...

. Revista de la Sociedad Científica del Paraguay, Asunción, 2: 27–30. * Jörgensen, P. (1924): Sobre dos casos de hermafroditismo en las mariposas (Lepidoptera). Revista de la Sociedad Científica del Paraguay, Asunción, 1 (6): 89–90. * Jörgensen, P. (1924): Observaciones biológicas de Lepidópteros sudamericanos. Revista de la Sociedad Científica del Paraguay, Asunción, 1 (6): 84–89. * Jörgensen, P. (1930): Los Castniidae de la Argentina y Paraguay. Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina, 3 (14): 175–180. * Jörgensen, P. (1932): Lepidopterologisches aus Südamerika. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift Iris, 46 (1): 37–66. * Jörgensen, P. (1934): Neue Schmetterlinge und Raupen aus Südamerika. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift Iris, 48: 60–78. * Jörgensen, P. (1935): Lepidópteros nuevos o raros de la Argentina y del Paraguay. Anales del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, Entomología, Buenos Aires, 38: 85-130 + 4 plates.

Legacy

Jörgensen's extensive collection activity in understudied regions and his meticulous descriptions of specimens resulted in numerous new species being described by himself and by specialists around the world, with whom he corresponded.

described 143 new

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

of Argentine bees collected in part by Jörgensen and Jensen-Haarup. Also the British-American

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 ...

Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell (22 August 1866 – 26 January 1948) was an American entomologist and Systematics, systematic biologist who published nearly 4,000 papers, some of them only a few lines long. Cockerell's speciality was the insect or ...

received specimens from Jörgensen and erected new species based on them. Today, a small fraction of his collections are kept in the Zoological Museum of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. The monotypic

ant lion The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae ...

genus '' Joergenia'' Esben-Petersen (1933) was named in his honour. Two

gall midge Cecidomyiidae is a family of diptera, flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small in ...

genera are named for him: ''Jorgensenia'' Kieffer, 1913, and ''Jorgenseniella'' Maia, 2005 (

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 ...

Cecidomyiidae Cecidomyiidae is a family of diptera, flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small in ...

).Gagné, R.J. & M. Jaschhof (2014) A Catalog of the Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) of the World, 3rd edn

/ref> A number of insect species have similarly been named for him, e.g. ''

Pontania joergenseni ''Pontania'' is a genus of common sawflies in the family Tenthredinidae Tenthredinidae is the largest family of sawflies, with well over 7,500 species worldwide, divided into 430 genera. Larvae are herbivores and typically feed on the foliage ...

'' Enslin 1916 ( Symphyta: Tenthredinidae), ''

Tessella jorgenseni ''Tessella jorgenseni'' is a moth in the family Erebidae. It was described by William Schaus in 1921. It is found in Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argent ...

'' (Schaus, 1921) ( Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) and '' Eurota joergenseni'' Orfila, 1931 ( Lepidoptera: Arctiidae).

Notes

References

* Cockerell, T.D.A. (1909). A new bee of the genus ''Halictus'' from the Argentine. Flora og Fauna, 11: 9. * Friese, H. (1908) Die Apidae "(Blumenwespen)" von Argentina nach den Reisenergebnissen der Herren A. C. Jensen-Haarup und P. Jörgensen in den Jahren 1904–1907. Naturhistorisk Forening for Jylland, Silkeborg, 116 pp. * Esben-Petersen, P. (1933). New and little-known Neuroptera. Meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening, 94: 109–123. * Lizer y Trelles, C. A. (1942). La coleccion Coccidologica de Pedro Jorgensen. Notas del Museo de la Plata 7: 69–80. * Rasmussen, Claus (2007) Anders Christian Jensen-Haarup & Peter Jørgensen. * Stange, L. A. (1970). Revision of the ant-lion tribe Brachynemurini of North America. Univ. California Publ. Ent. 55: 1–192. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Peter 1870 births 1937 deaths Hymenopterists Danish lepidopterists Danish people murdered abroad People murdered in Paraguay