Maximilian Spinola (; July 10, 1780 – November 12, 1857) was an Italian

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 ...

Background

Spinola was born in

Pézenas Pézenas (; Languedocien: ''Pesenàs'') is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Name The name "Pézenas" is derived from the older name ''Piscenae'', probably from the Latin word ''piscenis'', meanin ...

Hérault Hérault (; , ) is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault (river), Hérault River, its Prefectures in France, prefecture is M ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The family of Spinola was of very long standing and had great wealth and power in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. Maximilian Spinola was a descendant of the famous Spanish General Ambrogio Spinola, marqués de los Balbases (1569–1630) and much of his wealth derived from land held in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. He was linked to Camillo Pallavicini.

Research

He received many

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, ...

s from his properties in Spain and South America. He also made extensive, and expensive purchases especially of large showy

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s and

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s. His entomological contributions were mainly in the orders

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

and

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from ...

. Spinola made very important contributions to

entomology 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 ...

, describing many

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 ...

, especially in Spinola M. M., 1850.''Tavola sinottica dei generi spettanti alla classe degli insetti Arthroidignati, Hemiptera Linn., Latr. - Rhyngota Fab. - Rhynchota Burm.'' Memoria del Socio Attuale signor Marchese Massimiliano Spinola Modena, Dal tipi delle R.D. Camera. ''Soc. Ital. Sci.'', T.25, pt.1: 138 pp. He is listed, as Count Maximilian Spinola, as an ordinary member of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

in the Society's first volume of transactions published in 1836. At that time he lived in

. Spinola's

(with

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

s purchased from Dejean),

(with types purchased from

Audinet-Serville Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville (; his name, before the Revolution, included a particle: Audinet de Serville) was a French entomologist, born on 11 November 1775 in Paris. He died on 27 March 1858 in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. Life and career He wa ...

and Amédée Louis Michel le Peletier, comte de Saint-FargeauLepeletier and specimens from the

Pierre André Latreille Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoology, zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained hi ...

Collection),

collection is in Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Other specimens are in Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa. Most of his type specimens are extant and in good condition. He died in

Tassarolo Tassarolo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 598 and an area of .All de ...

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

, Italy.

Works

partial list *1806. ''Insectorum Liguriæ Species Novæ aut Rariores, quas in agro Ligustico nuper detexit, descripsit, et iconibus illustravit''. Tom. 1. xvii+159 pp. Genuæ. *1808. ''Insectorum Liguriae species novae aut rariores, quae in agro Ligustico nuper detexit, descripsit et iconibus illustravit Maximilianus Spinola, adjecto Catalogo spiecierum auctoribus jam enumeratarum, quae in eadam regione occurrunt'', Vol. 2. Gravier, Genuae. *1839. Compte rendu des hyménoptères recueillis par M. Fischer pendant son voyage en Égypte, et communiqués par M. le Docteur Waltl a Maximilien. ''Annales de la Société Entomologique de France'' 7: 437-546. *1839 Essai sur les Fulgorelles, sous-tribu de la tribu des Cicadaires, ordre des Rhynchotes ''Ann. Soc. ent. France'' 8, 133-137, 339-454 *1843. Sur quelques Hyménoptères peu connus, recueillis en Espagne, pendant l’année 1842, par M. Victor Ghiliani, voyageur-naturaliste. ''Annales de la Société Entomologique de France'' (2)1: 111-144. *1851. Hyménopteros. in Gay, C., ''Historia Fisica y Politica de Chile. Zoologia''. Vol. 6. Casa del author, Paris. pp. 153–569. *1853. Compte rendu des hyménoptères inédits provenants du voyage entomologique de M. Ghiliani dans le Para en 1846. ''Memoire della Reale Accademia della Scienze di Torino'' (2)13: 19-9

Notes

References

* *Baker, D. B. 1999: The Faunae Ligusticae Fragmenta of Massimiliano Spinola (1805).''Beiträge zur Entomologie'', Berlin 49 (1): 141-146 *Gestro, R. 1915. Ricordo di Massimiliano Spinola. ''Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria'' 47:33-53.

External links

Internet Archive
Digital version of Compte rendu des Hyménoptères inédits Provenants du voyage entomologique de Vittore Ghiliani, M. Ghiliani dans la Para en 1846.''Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, Volume: 13, Series 2, Pages: 19-94 1853.
EOL
''

Encyclopedia of Life The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It aggregates content to form "pages" for every known species. Content is compiled from existing trusted ...

'' Taxa described by Spinola.Complete.Images. Type Spinola into the search box.
Gaedike, R.; Groll, E. K. & Taeger, A. 2012: Bibliography of the entomological literature from the beginning until 1863 : online database - version 1.0 - Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spinola, Maximilian Italian entomologists Hymenopterists 1780 births 1857 deaths 19th-century Italian zoologists