Ernst August Girschner
Encyclopedia
Ernst August Girschner, usually just Ernst Girschner (29 October 1860 – 28 April 1914) was a German
entomologist who specialised in Diptera
.
Girschner was born (and died) in Torgau
, Province of Saxony
. He taught at the Gymnasium in Torgau. Girschner described many new species of Diptera but made much more important contributions notably formalising the use of chaetotaxy
in Calyptratae
"it was the merit of Mr. E. Girschner to give to Chaetotaxy a much greater development and application than it had had before, and to treat it as a sine qua non of descriptive dipterology. His enviable talent for drawing enabled him to illustrate his papers by diagrams more eloquent than any descriptions
He was a friend of entomologist Josef Mik
.
Part of his collection was purchsed by Colbran J. Wainwright in 1909 (now in the Natural History Museum
London).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
entomologist who specialised in Diptera
Diptera
Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...
.
Girschner was born (and died) in Torgau
Torgau
Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...
, Province of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
. He taught at the Gymnasium in Torgau. Girschner described many new species of Diptera but made much more important contributions notably formalising the use of chaetotaxy
Chaetotaxy
Chaetotaxy is taxonomy based on the position and size of bristles on an insect or the arrangement itself. It is especially important in Diptera in which group it was formalised by Ernst August Girschner....
in Calyptratae
Calyptratae
Calyptratae is a subsection of Schizophora in the insect order Diptera, commonly referred to as the calyptrate muscoids...
"it was the merit of Mr. E. Girschner to give to Chaetotaxy a much greater development and application than it had had before, and to treat it as a sine qua non of descriptive dipterology. His enviable talent for drawing enabled him to illustrate his papers by diagrams more eloquent than any descriptions
He was a friend of entomologist Josef Mik
Josef Mik
Josef Mik, also Joseph Mik was a Czech entomologist mainly interested in Diptera. He described many new species and made contributions to knowledge of the Diptera of Central Europe.Mik was the first dipterist to clarify the chaetotaxy of the legs." On the legs I distinguish a front [chaeta]- and a...
.
Works
Partial list- Beitrag zur Systematik der Musciden. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 38: 297–312. in which he introduced the taxon Muscidae acalyptratae (1893.).
- Einiges über die Färbung der Dipterenaugen. Berlin. Ent. Zeitschr.31, 155—162, I plate (1887)
- Ueber einige Musciden Wiener Entomologische Zeitung 17 :151-153
Part of his collection was purchsed by Colbran J. Wainwright in 1909 (now in the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
London).