August Friedrich Schweigger (8 September 1783 – 28 June 1821) was a German naturalist born in

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

. He was the younger brother of scientist Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger (1779-1857). He studied medicine,

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at Erlangen, and following graduation spent time in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(from 1804) and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(from 1806). In 1809 he was appointed professor of botany and medicine at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

. In 1815, he was elected a corresponding member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. On a research trip to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, he was murdered near

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

on 28 June 1821. The plant genus ''Schweiggeria'' from the family

Violaceae Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus ''Viola'', the violets and pansies. Older classifications such as the Cronquist system placed t ...

is named in his honor. In the scientific field of

herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

, he is best known for his 1812 monograph of

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

s, in which he described several new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

which are still valid.

Turtle taxa described by Schweigger

Schweigger is the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

of ''

Chelydra ''Chelydra'' is one of the two extant genera of the snapping turtle family, Chelydridae, the other being ''Macrochelys'', the much larger alligator snapping turtle. The snapping turtles are native to the Americas, with ''Chelydra'' having three ...

'', a genus of

snapping turtle The Chelydridae is a family of turtles that has seven extinct and two extant genera. The extant genera are the snapping turtles, ''Chelydra'' and '' Macrochelys''. Both are endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The extinct genera are '' Acherontem ...

s. In 1812 he described as new species the following 12 species of turtles and tortoises. * Adanson's mud turtle, ''Pelusios adansonii'' *

Aldabra giant tortoise The Aldabra giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles. It is one of the largest tortoises in the world.Pritchar ...

, ''Geochelone gigantea'' * South American river turtle, ''Podocnemis expansa'' *

Big-headed Amazon River turtle The big-headed Amazon River turtle (''Peltocephalus dumerilianus''),Common toad-headed turtle, ''Mesoclemmys nasuta'' * Serrated hinge-back tortoise, ''Kinixys erosa'' * Geoffroy's side-necked turtle, ''Phrynops geoffroanus'' * Gibba turtle, ''Mesoclemmys gibba'' *

Indian black turtle The Indian black turtle (''Melanochelys trijuga'') or Indian pond terrapin is a species of medium-sized freshwater turtle found in South Asia. Description Despite its name, the color of its upper shell or carapace can vary from reddish to dar ...

, ''Melanochelys trijuga'' * South African bowsprit tortoise, ''Chersina angulata'' * Mediterranean turtle, ''Mauremys leprosa'' * West African mud turtle, ''Pelusios castaneus''

Selected publications

* ''Specimen flora erlangensis'', 1805. * ''Kranken- und Armenanstalten in Paris'' (Medical and charitable institutions in Paris), Bayreuth: Lübeck, 1809. * ''Prodromus Monographia Cheloniorum auctore Schweigger''. Königsberg. Arch. Naturwiss. Mathem. 1: 271-368, 406-458, 1812. * ''Einige Worte über Classification der Thiere'', (Treatise on the classification of animals), 1812. * ''Prodromi monographiae cheloniorum'', 1814. * ''Beobachtungen auf naturhistorischen Reisen'' (Observations on natural history trips). Berlin, 1819. * ''Handbuch der Naturgeschichte der skelettlosen ungegliederten Tiere'' (Textbook of natural history on unsegmented

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

). Leipzig, 1820. * ''De plantarum classificatione naturalis'', 1821. * "The Life and Herpetological Contributions of August Friedrich Schweigger" (Published in English); Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, 2008.Google Search
published works

References

''August Friedrich Schweigger''
@

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of the equivalent article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

.'' 19th-century German botanists German naturalists German herpetologists People from Erlangen University of Königsberg faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1783 births 1821 deaths {{Germany-scientist-stub