Alexander Strauch (1 March 1832, in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

– 14 August 1893, in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, Germany) was a Russian naturalist, most notably a

herpetologist 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 rep ...

. In 1861 he started working as a

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the zoological museum at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. From 1879 to 1890 he was director of the museum. He is credited with establishing St. Petersburg as a major world center in the field of herpetology.

Taxa named after Strauch

Taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural 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 nam ...

with the specific epithet of ''strauchi'' or ''strauchii'' commemorate his name, five examples being: *'' Blanus strauchi'' ( Bedriaga, 1884) *'' Ctenotus strauchii'' ( Boulenger, 1887) *'' Eremias strauchi'' Kessler, 1878 *'' Gloydius strauchi'' (Bedriaga, 1912) *'' Phrynocephalus strauchi'' Nikolsky, 1899. ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atten ...

'': A Taxon author in parentheses indicates that the

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 ...

was originally described in a different

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

. His zoologist author abbreviation is Strauch.

Selected works

* ''Die Vertheilung der Schildkröten über den Erdball : ein zoogeographischer Versuch'', 1865 – The distribution of turtles across the globe, etc. * ''Synopsis der Viperiden : nebst Bemerkungen über die geographische Verbreitung dieser Giftschlangen-Familie'', 1869 – Synopsis of

Viperidae The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs th ...

. * ''Revision der Salamandriden-Gattungen nebst Beschreibung einiger neuen oder weniger bekannten Arten dieser Familie'', 1870 – Revision of Salamandridae genera along with descriptions of some new or lesser known species within the family.Hathitrust
Revision der Salamandriden-Gattungen, etc.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauch, Alexander Russian naturalists Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences 1832 births 1893 deaths Scientists from Saint Petersburg