Ferdinand Ferdinandovich Morawitz (russian: Фердинанд Фердинандович Моравиц, german: Ferdinand Carl Joseph Morawitz; 3 August 1827 in St. Petersburg – 5 December 1896 in St. Petersburg) was a Russian

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 ara ...

. His parents were German emigrants from

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

. He was brought up in a closed school for boys. In 1853, Morawitz graduated from the 'Dorpat' (part of

Tartu University The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

with a 'Doctor of Medicine' degree. With a final year dissertation on the anatomy of Blatta germanica. After he graduated, he moved to

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He then had a Doctors practise for 15 years until 1879. But in his spare time he was interested in entomology. He was one of the founding members of the

Russian Entomological Society The Russian Entomological Society is a Russian scientific society devoted to entomology. The Society was founded in 1859 in St. Petersburg by Karl Ernst von Baer, Johann Friedrich von Brandt who was then the director of the Zoological Museum of t ...

in 1859. He first published scientific work on

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describe ...

in 1860. Morawitz also studied the collection of naturalist

Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko (russian: Алексей Павлович Федченко; 31 August/15 September 1873), a.k.a. Alexei Pavlovich Fedtschenko, was a Russian naturalist and explorer well known for his travels in central Asia. Alterna ...

, who had collected significant numbers of insects from three explorations from 1869 to 1873 of Central Asia. He recorded 438 species belonging to 36 genera from Central Asia. 68 species of

Andrena ''Andrena'' is a genus of bees in the family Andrenidae. With over 1,500 species, it is one of the largest genera of animals. It is a strongly monophyletic group that is difficult to split into more manageable divisions; currently, ''Andrena'' is ...

, 17 species from Europe and 51 new species. Dr. Ferdinand Morawitz worked mainly on

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typic ...

. He is best known for his work on the

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfam ...

of Russia and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

. He was one of the prominent entomologists associated with the

Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Science 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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and di ...

where his brother August Feodorovitsh Morawitz (22 August 1837 in St. Petersburg – 16 September 1897 in

Blankenburg Blankenburg may refer to: Places * Blankenburg am Harz, a German town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt * Blankenburg Castle (Harz), the castle in Blankenburg am Harz (see above) * Bad Blankenburg, a German town in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt dis ...

) was

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the insect collections. His collection is shared between the Zoological Museum in St. Petersburg and the Zoological Museum of

Odessa University Odesa I. I. Mechnykov National University ( uk, Одеський національний університет Iмені І. І. Мечникова, translit=Odeskyi natsionalnyi universytet imeni I. I. Mechnykova), located in Odesa, Ukraine, i ...

Works

Partial list *1869 Die Bienen des Gouvernements von St. Petersburg. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 6: 27-71. *1874 Die Bienen

Daghestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...

s. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 10(1873): 129-189. *1875 ees(Mellifera) in A. Fedtschenko ''Reise in

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

''. Berlin. * 1880 Ein Beitrag zur Bienen-Fauna mittel-Asiens. ''Izvêstiya Imperatorskoi akademii nauk'' 26: 337-379. * 1881 Die russischen Bombus-Arten in der Sammlung der Kaiserlichen Academie der Wissenschaften. ''Izvêstiya Imperatorskoi akademii nauk'' 27: 213-265. * 1883 Neue russisch-asiatische Bombus-Arten. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 17: 235-245. * 1886 Insecta in itinere cl. N. Przewalskii in Asia centrali novissime lecta. I. Apidae. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 20: 195-229. * 1888 Hymenoptera aculeata nova. Descripsit. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 22: 224-302. * 1890 Insecta a Cl. G. N. Potanin in China et in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

novissime lecta. XIV. Hymenoptera Aculeata. II). III. Apidae. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 24: 349-385. * 1891

Hymenoptera aculeata Hymenoptera is a large order of insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-par ...

Rossica nova. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 26(1892): 132-181. * 1893 Supplement zur Bienenfauna Turkestans. ''Trudy Russkago éntomologicheskago obshchestva'' 28(1894): 1-87.

References

*Meldola, R. 1896 ''Proc. Ent. Soc. London'' 1896 XCV. *Pesenko, Yu. A. & Astafurova, Yu. V. 2003 Annotated Bibliography of Russian and Soviet Publications on the Bees 1771 - 2002 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea; excluding Apis mellifera).''Denisia'' 11 1-616 (533-534). *Baker, D. B., 2004 Type material of Hymenoptera described by O. L. Radoszkowsky in the Natural History Museum, London, and the localities of A. P. Fedtschencko's Reise in Turkestan ''Dt. ent. Zeitschr.'' 51, 231-252. {{DEFAULTSORT:Morawitz, Ferdinand Ferdinandovich Russian entomologists Hymenopterists 1827 births 1896 deaths Biologists from the Russian Empire University of Tartu alumni