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

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

. 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

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

s numbers. Moericke was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

and grew up in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

. 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 ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

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