Carl Constantin Platen (24 September 1843,

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

– 29 June 1899, Barth) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

zoological 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 dis ...

collector of

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

and

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. After his medical profession in

Amoy Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...

in the Chinese Empire Carl Constantin Platen worked as a zoological collector. Between 1878 and 1894 with his wife Margarete he undertook extensive journeys, which led him in 1878 to south

Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu A ...

, in 1880 to

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, in 1881

Seram Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent is ...

, in late 1881 and 1882 to

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

, 1884/1885 to

, 1887 to the

Sulu Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg''; tl, Lalawigan ng Sulu), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamor ...

islands and after to

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...

, 1889 to

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

and 1892/1894 to

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

. The yield, which consisted of 728 specimens of 141 bird

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 ...

, gathered on these expeditions was acquired mostly by Platens friend

Wilhelm Blasius August Wilhelm Heinrich Blasius (5 July 1845 in Braunschweig – 31 May 1912 in Braunschweig) was a German ornithologist. Blasius belonged to a family of scientists: his father was the ornithologist Johann Heinrich Blasius (1809-1870) and his br ...

for the natural history museum in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

. A further part was sold to the natural history dealer Wilhelm Schlüter in

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, ...

. Platen was nearly blind and deaf, when he returned to Germany in 1894 where he lived in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania until his death in 1899.

Legacy

Bird taxa named in Platen's honour include ''

Aramidopsis plateni The snoring rail (''Aramidopsis plateni''), also known as the Celebes rail or Platen's rail, is a large flightless Rallidae, rail and the only member of the genus ''Aramidopsis''. The species is Endemism in birds, endemic to Indonesia, and it i ...

'', Dasycrotapha plateni, '' Gallicolumba platenae'', '' Sterrhoptilus plateni'', '' Prioniturus platenae'', '' Ficedula platenae'' and '' Thapsinillas longirostris platenae''. Butterflies named for him are '' Euploea platenae'', '' Amathuxidia plateni'', '' Amblypodia plateni'', '' Charaxes platenae'', '' Chionaema plateni'', '' Choaspes plateni'', '' Danaus plateni'', '' Prothoe plateni'' and ''

Troides plateni ''Troides plateni'', the Dr. Platen's birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly endemic to Palawan, Balabac, Dumaran, and the Calamian Islands in the Philippines. It is named for Dr. Carl Constantin Platen. Habitat and conservation ''Troides plateni' ...

''.

References

*Ludwig Gebhardt: ''Die Ornithologen Mitteleuropas''. AULA-Verlag, Wiebelsheim. 2006

External links

Entry at Zobodat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platen, Carl Constantin German entomologists German ornithologists 1843 births 1899 deaths German expatriates in China