Blasius Merrem (4 February 1761 – 23 February 1824) was a German naturalist, zoologist,

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

, mathematician, and herpetologist. In 1804, he became the professor of political economy and botany at the University of Marburg.

Early life

Merrem was born at

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, and studied at the University of Göttingen under Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He developed an interest in zoology, particularly ornithology.

Ornithology

He is remembered chiefly as the first ornithologist to propose a division of birds into Ratitae (

ratite A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics ...

s or running birds, with a flat sternum) and Carinatae (carinates or flying birds, with a keeled sternum), which formed part of his classification of birds in ''Tentamen Systematis Naturalis Avium'', published in Berlin in 1816 (in ''Abhandlugen Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1812–1813: Phys. Kl.'').

Herpetology

Similarly, in his 1820 opus, ''Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien'', he was the first scientist to accurately separate

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s from

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

, to separate

crocodilian Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...

s from

lizards Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia althou ...

, and to combine lizards and snakes in a single

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Merrem", p. 176). Merrem is honored in the scientific names of two South American snakes: the

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

'' Erythrolamprus miliaris merremi'', and the species ''

Xenodon merremii ''Xenodon merremii'', also known commonly as Wagler's snake, is a species of snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South America and is widespread in the eastern half of the continent. Geogr ...

''.

Works

*''De animalibus Scythicis apud Plinium'' (1781). (in Latin). *''Vermischte Abhandlungen aus der Thiergeschichte'' (1781). (in German). *''Beyträge zur besondern Geschichte der Vögel gesammelt'' (1784-1786). (in German). *''Avium rariorum et minus cognitarum icones et descriptiones'' (1786). (in Latin). *''Beitraege zur Naturgeschichte'' (1790-1821). (in German). *''Reise nach Paris im August und September, 1798'' (1800). (in German). *''Index plantarum horti academici Marburgensis'' (1807). (in Latin). *''Handbuch der Pflanzenkunde nach dem Linneischen System'' (1809). (in German). *''Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien: Tentamen Systematis Amphibiorum'' (1820). (in German and Latin).

References

1761 births 1824 deaths 18th-century German zoologists German ornithologists German herpetologists Scientists from Bremen (state) Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina University of Marburg faculty 19th-century German zoologists {{Ornithologist-stub