Eudóxia Maria Froehlich (21 October 1928 – 26 September 2015) was a Brazilian

zoologist 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, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Life

Born in 1928, Eudóxia Maria de Oliveira Pinto was the daughter of Alice Alves de Camargo and the ornithologist Olivério Mário de Oliveira Pinto. Since she was a child, her parents used to take her and her siblings to the wooded areas near

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, which helped her to become interested in zoology, especially small animals.Carbayo, F. (2013) "Vida de Zoólogo: Eudóxia Maria Froehlich." ''Informativo da Sociedade Brasileira de Zoologia'' 106: 7–10. After finishing High School, she spent six months in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

with an uncle who was a physician and returned home interested in studying

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

. Her father did not approve the idea, considering it an inappropriate career for a woman, and suggested her to study natural history and so she did. During this time she became engaged to

Claudio Gilberto Froehlich Claudio Gilberto Froehlich (born 10 June 1927) is a Brazilian zoologist.Neglected ScienceClaudio Gilberto Froehlich Retrieved 19 February 2017. Life Froehlich was born in 1927 in São Paulo, Brazil. In 1951 he started his doctoral studies at the ...

, one of her colleagues. In 1951 she and Froehlich started their doctoral studies at the

Universidade de São Paulo The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

together, having Ernst Marcus as their advisor. Marcus suggested that they should work on the taxonomy of

land planarians Geoplanidae is a family of flatworms known commonly as land planarians or land flatworms. These flatworms are mainly predators of other invertebrates, which they hunt, attack and capture using physical force and the adhesive and digestive proper ...

, since it was a poorly studied but highly diverse group in the region. She continued her studies with land planarians until 1978 and then changed her attention to

arachnids Arachnida () is a Class (biology), class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, came ...

. She retired in 1988, but continued her work as an emerita professor, being active until her death in 2015.

Homages

The land planarian genus '' Eudoxiatopoplana'', as well as the species '' Obama eudoxiae'', '' Obama eudoximariae'' and '' Notogynaphallia froehlichae'', were named after her.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Froehlich, Eudoxia Maria 1928 births 2015 deaths Brazilian zoologists University of São Paulo faculty