Carl Jakob Sundevall (22 October 1801, Högestad – 2 February 1875) was a Swedish
zoologist
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 ...
.
Sundevall studied at
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm from 1833, and was professor and keeper of the
vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxon, taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with vertebral column, backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the ...
section from 1839 to 1871. He wrote ''Svenska Foglarna'' (1856–87) which described 238 species of birds observed in Sweden. He classified a number of birds collected in southern Africa by Johan August Wahlberg. In 1835, he developed a
phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...
for the birds based on the muscles of the hip and leg that contributed to later work by
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The stor ...
. He then went on to examine the arrangement of the deep
plantar
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
tendon
A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...
s in the bird's foot. This latter information is still used by avian taxonomists. Sundevall was also an
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
and
arachnologist
Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of s ...
, for which (for the latter field) in 1833 he published an early catalog ''Conspectus Arachnidum''. Much later in 1862, he wrote a monograph proposing a universal phonetic alphabet, ''Om phonetiska bokstäver''.
Legacy
Sundevall is commemorated in the scientific names of four species of reptiles: '' Elapsoidea sundevalli, Leptotyphlops sundewalli, Mochlus sundevallii'', and '' Prosymna sundevalli''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Sundevall", p. 258). Also the rodent,
Sundevall's jird
Sundevall's jird (''Meriones crassus'') is a species of rodent in the family of Muridae. It is found in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan, Morocco, Niger, Palestine, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syri ...
(''Meriones crassus'') is named after him.
References
Sources
*Anonymous (1875). undevall, C. J.''Journ. Ornith''. 23: 214–215.
*Anonymous (1875). undevall, C. J. ''J. Zool.'' 4: 61.
* Areschoug, J. E. (1879). ''Minnesteckning öfver C. J. Sundevall''. Stockholm.
*Bonnet, P. (1945). ''Bibliographia Araneorum''. Toulouse.