Carl Robert Osten-Sacken or Carl-Robert Romanovich, Baron von der Osten-Sacken, Baron Osten Sacken (21 August 1828, – 20 May 1906) was a Russian diplomat and entomologist. He served as the Russian consul general in New York City during the American Civil War, living in the United States from 1856 to 1877. He worked on the taxonomy of flies in general and particularly of the family

Tipulidae Crane fly is a common name referring to any member of the insect family Tipulidae. Cylindrotominae, Limoniinae, and Pediciinae have been ranked as subfamilies of Tipulidae by most authors, though occasionally elevated to family rank. In the m ...

(crane flies).

Early life

Carl Robert Osten-Sacken was born on 21 August 1828 in St. Petersburg as the son of

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

Baron Reinhold Friedrich von der Osten-Sacken (1791-1864) and his wife, Elisabeth von Engelhardt (1805-1873).

Biography

He took an interest in insects at the age of eleven through the influence of Joseph N. Schatiloff, a Russian coleopterist. In 1849 he joined the Imperial Foreign Office and while still in Russia he published his first entomological papers, including an account of the species found in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. In 1856, he was sent to Washington, D.C. to serve as secretary of the Russian legation. During his two-month trip to America, he visited some of Europe’s leading entomologists, including

Hermann August Hagen Hermann August Hagen (30 May 1817 – 9 November 1893) was a German entomologist who specialised in Neuroptera The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order ...

, then living in Konigsberg. In the mid-1860s Osten Sacken helped Hagen secure a position at Harvard, where he became the first entomologist in the United States to hold the formal title, Professor of Entomology. In 1862 Osten Sacken was named the Russian consul general in New York City, a post he held until 1871. He developed an early interest in entomology specialising in Diptera and especially the

. In 1862 Osten-Sacken published, with assistance from

Hermann Loew Friedrich Hermann Loew (19 July 1807 – 21 April 1879) was a German entomologist who specialised in the study of Diptera, an order of insects including flies, mosquitoes, gnats and midges. He described many world species and was the first specia ...

, “Catalogue of the described Diptera of North America” in ''Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections'', Vol. 3. A later edition of this work appeared in 1878, as ''Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections'', No. 270. He published many other papers. His work on the Tipulidae included a classification of the family. He also studied insect

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

and worked on the

Tabanidae Horse-flies or horseflies are true flies in the family Tabanidae in the insect order Diptera. They are often large and agile in flight, and only the female horseflies bite animals, including humans, to obtain blood. They prefer to fly in s ...

. Osten-Sacken corresponded with Hermann Loew, supplying him with specimens, and translated and published Loew's work in the "Monographs of the Diptera of North America", (1862-1873), ''Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections'', Nos. 6, 171, 219, 256. He proposed the term

chaetotaxy Chaetotaxy is the arrangement of bristles (macrochaetae) on an arthropod or annelid, or taxonomy based on their position and size. For example, it is important in Diptera, in which group it was formalised by Ernst August Girschner. The term chaeto ...

. Asteroid

335 Roberta Roberta (minor planet designation: 335 Roberta) is a large main belt asteroid. It was discovered on 1 September 1892, by German astronomer Anton Staus at Heidelberg Observatory. ''Roberta'' was the 12th asteroid that was discovered using photogra ...

was named in his honor. A subspecies of North American snake, '' Thamnophis sauritus sackenii'', was named in his honour by

Robert Kennicott Robert Kennicott (November 13, 1835 – May 13, 1866) was an American naturalist and herpetologist. Chronic illness kept Kennicott out of school as a child. Instead, Kennicott spent most of his time outdoors, collecting plants and animals. H ...

in 1859.Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Osten-Sacken", p. 197). The cynipid

gall wasp Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this gener ...

'' Amphibolips quercusostensackenii'' is named in his honour.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Manuscript collection at the Natural History Museum (London)
1828 births 1906 deaths Diplomats from Saint Petersburg Dipterists Baltic-German people Russian entomologists Diplomats of the Russian Empire People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Barons of the Russian Empire Scientists from Saint Petersburg {{entomologist-stub