Vladimir Georgievich Geptner (or Heptner in English) (; 22 June 1901 – 5 July 1975) was a Russian and Soviet zoologist who studied the mammals of the USSR and was a pioneer of biogeographic research.
Biography
Geptner was born in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
where his father Georgi (Georg-Julius Andreevich Geptner; 1867–1935) was an accountant who had served in a Lutheran church before the Revolution. His mother Valeria Augstinovna née Kovalevskaya was of German Polish origin from Krotoshin near Poznan. He attended the Swiss Gymnasium. He then joined Moscow University in 1919 and attended classes by
M. A. Menzbier. He served as a curator of the museum briefly and graduated in 1925. In 1920 he joined expeditions into Turgai, the Arctic and Voronezh region. In 1925 he became a graduate student of
S.I. Ognev and
G. A. Kozhevnikov. He graduated in 1929 and became an assistant professor and helped teach the systematics of
vertebrates
Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain.
The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...
. In 1932 he became the head of the department of mammals. On February 16, 1933, he and his wife Nina Sergeevna Rudneva were arrested on charges under
Article 58-11 that they were participating in anti-Soviet activities and sentenced to three years of labour camp in Siblag. This was however reviewed and they were back in Moscow after six months. He became a professor in 1934 and taught
zoogeography
Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with geographic distribution (present and past) of animal species.
As a multifaceted field of study, zoogeography incorporates methods of molecular biology, genetics, mo ...
until 1950.
A major contribution was two volumes in the mammals of the Soviet Union series of publications.
The taxa ''Capra falconeri heptneri'', ''Meles meles heptneri'', '' Mustela nivalis heptneri'' and ''
Salpingotus heptneri'' are named in his honour.
References
External links
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Publications listОбщая зоогеография(1936, General Zoogeography)
Mammals of the Soviet Union(English translations)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geptner, Vladimir
Soviet zoologists
1901 births
1975 deaths
People from Moscow