Volker Moericke (22 December 1913 – 8 June 1981) was a German professor of applied entomology at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

. He discovered colour vision in aphids and innovated the use of yellow-pan traps (which also go by the name of Moericke traps) to monitor aphids numbers. Moericke was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

and grew up in

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was ...

. He studied sciences at Munich, Freiburg, Göttingen and Bonn. He received a doctorate in 1940 under Hans Blunck. In 1941 he was called to military service and returned to research at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württe ...

after the war. His research on sensory ecology and behaviour on aphids in potato crops led to the innovation in 1951 of yellow-pan traps which are sometimes known as Moericke traps. Moericke also had an interest in birds and spent many mornings with his students on outdoor excursions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moericke, Volker German entomologists 1913 births 1981 deaths Scientists from Mannheim People from Konstanz Academic staff of the University of Bonn 20th-century German zoologists