Carl Peter Holbøll (1795–1856) was an officer in the

Danish Royal Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...

, Greenland colonial officer and explorer of the Greenlandic fauna. Holbøll served as Royal Inspector of Colonies and Whaling in North Greenland (1825–1828), then Inspector of South Greenland (1828–1856). While in this post he became interested in natural history. His main contribution was to send large amounts of faunistic collections to the zoologists in Copenhagen. For example, professor Johannes Theodor Reinhardt described the North American form of the red-necked grebe and named it ''Podiceps holboellii'' (now ''Podiceps grisegena holboellii''). Holbøll himself also wrote a treatise on Greenlandic birds.
Ornithologischer Beitrag zur Fauna Grönlands
' von Carl Holböll, übersetzt und mit einem Anhang versehen von J.H. Paulsen. Leipzig, Ernst Fleischer. 1846. In the paper, he described the

hoary redpoll The Arctic redpoll or hoary redpoll (''Acanthis hornemanni'') is a bird species in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds in tundra birch forest. It has two subspecies, ''A. h. hornemanni'' (Greenland or Hornemann's Arctic redpoll) of Greenlan ...

(''Linota hornemanni'', now known as ''Carduelis hornemanni''), which he named for the

botanist 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 wo ...

Jens Wilken Hornemann. Hornemann had previously received plant collections from Holbøll and named a new species ''Arabis holboellii'' (now known as ''

Boechera holboellii ''Boechera holboellii'', or Holbøll's rockcress, is a species of plant in the family Brassicaceae. Its cytology has been much studied by the Danish botanist Tyge W. Böcher. Circumscription of this species has varied, with earlier works treatin ...

''). Holbøll was also a skilled amateur

and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. He wrote a school book for mathematics teaching in Greenland, which was used for about a century. After a visit to Denmark, he travelled back to Greenland on the brig ''Baldur'', which went down on its way. All on board were lost.

Commemoration of Holbøll in species' names

Krøyer's deep sea angler fish Krøyer's deep sea angler fish (''Ceratias holboelli'') is a species of fish in the family Ceratiidae, the sea devils. This deep-sea anglerfish is found in all oceans, at depths of , but mainly between . Females typically are long, but can reach ...

''Ceratias holboelli'' ( Krøyer, 1845) (

Ceratiidae Sea devils are the family of deep-sea anglerfish known as the Ceratiidae, from the Greek ''keras'', "horn", referring to the bioluminescent lure that projects from the fishes' forehead. They are among the most widespread of the anglerfishes, f ...

) *

Amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

''Phoxocephalus holboelli'' ( Krøyer, 1842) (

Phoxocephalidae Phoxocephalidae is a family of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the suborder Gammaridea described by Georg Ossian Sars in 1891. It contains '' Cocoharpinia iliffei'', a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List The International U ...

) *

''Hippomedon holboelli'' ( Krøyer, 1846) (

Lysianassidae Lysianassidae is a family of marine amphipods, containing the following genera: *'' Acontiostoma'' Stebbing, 1888 *'' Alibrotus'' Milne-Edwards, 1840 *'' Allogaussia'' Schellenberg, 1926 *'' Ambasia'' Boeck, 1871 *'' Ambasiella'' Schellenberg, 1 ...

) * Marine gastropod ''Colus holboelli'' (Møller, 1842) ( Buccinidae) * Marine gastropod ''Dolabrifera holboelli'' Bergh, 1872 (

Aplysiidae Aplysiidae is the only family in the superfamily Aplysioidea, within the clade Anaspidea. These animals are commonly called sea hares because, unlike most sea slugs, they are often quite large, and when they are underwater, their rounded body sh ...

) *

Freshwater gastropod Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...

''Lymnaea holboelli'' (Møller, 1842) ( Lymnaeidae) * Flowering plant ''

'' ( Hornem.) Á.Löve & D.Löve ( Brassicaceae)

References

*Biographical Appendix of ''The Dictionary of American Bird Names'', Revised Edition, by Ernest A. Choate, The Harvard Common Press, 1985.Biographical information indicates Mr. Holboell died at sea. *Henriksen, K. L. (1926) C. P. Holbøll. ''Entomologiske Meddelelser''. 15 (5): 195, with portrait. {{DEFAULTSORT:Holboll, Carl Peter 18th-century Danish naval officers Danish ornithologists Danish naturalists Danish entomologists Inspectors of Greenland 1795 births 1856 deaths