Dietrich Herrman Reinhard von Schlechtendal (20 October 1834 – 5 July 1916) was a German

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 ...

who worked on

Cynipidae 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 genera ...

. Born in

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...

, Schlechtendal trained as a mining expert and

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

and worked for many years as an assistant at the ''Geologisch-Mineralogischen Institut'' in Halle. His

botanical 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 ...

knowledge led to study of

gall wasps 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 genera ...

. Working on the North American species ''Neuroterus quercus-batatus'' (Fitch) in a laboratory, he bred from the

parthenogenetic Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development ...

females the bi-sexual form. This species was then introduced onto Turkey oaks in the Halle Botanic Garden. Up to then, the trees had been sterile for decades, but they went on to produce fertile seeds.Hüsing (1966) Many species of Cynipidae were described by Schlechtendal or their generation sequence was clarified. His collection of Cynipidae with their galls is shared by the

Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...

in Berlin and the Zoological Institute of the

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

which also conserves his collections of

Blattidae Blattidae is a cockroach family in the order Blattodea containing several of the most common household cockroaches. Some notable species include: * ''Blatta orientalis'': Oriental cockroach, * Common shining cockroach: (''Drymaplaneta commun ...

and

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

. Dietrich von Schlechtendal was an honorary member of the Entomological Society of Halle and a member of the

Stettin Entomological Society The Entomological Society of Stettin (german: Entomologischer Verein zu Stettin) or Stettin Entomological Society, based in Stettin (Szczecin), was one of the leading entomological societies of the 19th century. Most German entomologists were membe ...

. As well as many short scientific papers, Schlechtendal wrote ''Die Gallbildungen (Zoocecidien) der Deutschen Gefässpflanzen'' (1891).

References

*Haupt, H. 1916 “Dietrich von Schlechtendahl. Ein Nachruf.” ''Mitt. Ent. Ges. Halle a. S. , Berlin'' (10) : 1–9 *Moritz, G. & Neumann, V. 2002 chlechtendal, D. H. R. von''DGaaE Nachrichten 16(2) 47'' *Moritz, G., Schneider, K., Heidecke, D. and Neumann, V. 2004 “Die Geschichte der Entomologie am Institut für Zoologie der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.” ''Mitt. Dt. Ges. allg. angew. Ent.'' 14 21–30, 18 Figure 27, Portrait. *Taschenberg, O. 1918 “Dietrich von Schlechtendal + 5 July 1916.” ''Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaften'' 86 1915/1917 321–336. * Schlechtendal, D. von, ''Die Gallbildungen (Zoocecidien) der Deutschen Gefässpflanzen'' (R. Zückler, Zwickau, 1891) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlechtendal, von Dietrich 1834 births 1916 deaths German entomologists Hymenopterists