Embrik Strand (2 June 1876 – 3 November 1947) was an
entomologist and
arachnologist
Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of ...
who classified many insect and spider species including the
greenbottle blue tarantula.
Life and career
Strand was born in
Ål
Ål is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hallingdal. The administ ...
, Norway. He studied at the University of Kristiania (now
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
). Around 1900 he focused on collecting insect specimens from Norway. These are now deposited at the university's museum, where he worked as a curator from 1901 to 1903.
After studying at the University of Oslo Strand traveled in Norway from 1898 to 1903 collecting a great number of insects. For part of this time (1901–1903) he was a conservator in the museum of zoology of the university.
He then left for Germany where he continued his studies of zoology 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 ...
(1903), then he worked with
State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (1905) and, later, that of
Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...
and then with
Senckenberg Museum
The Naturmuseum Senckenberg is a museum of natural history, located in Frankfurt am Main. It is the second-largest of its type in Germany. The museum contains a large and diverse collection of birds with 90,000 bird skins, 5,050 egg sets, 17,0 ...
in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
. From 1907, he worked with
Natural History Museum, Berlin
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 1923, he accepted the post of professor of zoology at the
University of Riga
University of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Universitāte, shortened ''LU'') is a state-run university located in Riga, Latvia established in 1919.
The ''QS World University Rankings'' places the university between 801st and 1000th globally, seventh ...
and where he directed the institute of zoology and hydrobiology.
Strand was the author of many publications, mainly on insects and spiders and was the descriptor of several hundred new
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
. From 1910 to 1929, he edited the review ''Archiv für Naturgeschichte'' and was the founder, in 1928, of ''Folia zoologica and hydrobiologica''.
Pierre Bonnet indicates, in his '' Bibliographia araneorum'' (pages 150–153), that a record number of new taxa were dedicated to Strand. Strand himself was the editor of a book in three volumes listing these, to celebrate his jubilee. There are indeed several hundreds of species which bear his name in all the possible forms: ''strandi'', ''atrandella'', ''embriki'', ''embrikiellus'', ''embrik-strandella'', etc. In the same way, Bonnet reproached Strand renaming already described species, but of which he, Strand, considered the name incorrect: Strand draws up a list of these, in 1926, where he renames nearly 1,700
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 ...
of spiders.
He was a prolific author, the list of his publications which he published in 1918 (after only twenty years of activity) is 1,200 titles. Strand was a contributor to
Adalbert Seitz
Friedrich Joseph Adalbert Seitz, (24 February 1860 in Mainz – 5 March 1938 in Darmstadt) was a German physician and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He was a director of the Frankfurt zoo from 1893 to 1908 and is best known for e ...
's ''Macrolepidoptera of the World'' (
Bombycidae
The Bombycidae are a family of moths. The best-known species is ''Bombyx mori'' (Linnaeus) or silkworm, native to northern China and domesticated for millennia. Another well-known species is ''Bombyx mandarina'', also native to Asia.
Taxonomy
Th ...
). He died in
Riga, aged 71.
Strand's collection of insects and spiders from Norway is in the Zoological Museum of the University of Oslo.
"The Natural History Museums and Botanical Garden - Tøyen"
/ref> His types
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type
In computer science and computer programming, a data type (or simply type) is a set of possible values and a set of allo ...
are in the German Entomological Institute
The Senckenberg German Entomological Institute (german: Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, SDEI or DEI) is a German entomological research institute devoted to the study of insects. Founded in 1886, the institute has an extraordinar ...
and 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 ...
.
See also
* :Taxa named by Embrik Strand
Sources
*Natvig, L. R. (1943). trand, E.''Norsk ent. Tidsskr''. 7(1/2) 58–61, Portr. + Schr.verz.
*Pfaff, G. & Wrede, O. H. (1934). trand, E.''Festschrift, 50jähriges Bestehen I.E.V.'' 11, Portrait.
*Bonnet, P. (1945). ''Bibliographia araneorum'' the brothers Doularoude (Toulouse): 62.
References
External links
University of Oslo
DEI biografi
Portrait
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strand, Embrik
1876 births
1947 deaths
Latvian biologists
20th-century Norwegian zoologists
Norwegian entomologists
Arachnologists
University of Latvia faculty
People from Ål