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

zoologist 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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

, ornithologist,

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, and

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 1804, he became the professor of political economy and botany at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

Early life

Merrem was born at Bremen, and studied at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

under

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (11 May 1752 – 22 January 1840) was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist, and anthropologist. He is considered to be a main founder of zoology and anthropology as comparative, scientific disciplines. He ...

. He developed an interest in

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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

, particularly

ornithology 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 ...

Ornithology

He is remembered chiefly as the first ornithologist to propose a division of birds into Ratitae ( ratites or running birds, with a flat

sternum The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Sha ...

) and

Carinatae Carinatae is the group of all birds and their extinct relatives to possess a keel, or "carina", on the underside of the breastbone used to anchor large flight muscles. Classification Definition Traditionally, Carinatae were defined as all bird ...

(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 amphibians from reptiles, to separate crocodilians from lizards, and to combine lizards and

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s in a single order.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 In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of two South American snakes: the subspecies '' 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. Geographi ...

''.

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