Gustav L. Mayr (12 October 1830 – 14 July 1908) was an Austrian

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 ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He specialised in

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, 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 Par ...

, being particularly known for his studies of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

s.1908. Obituary. Prof. Gustav Mayr. Entomological News 19:396
Bibliography In 1868, he was the first to describe the

Argentine ant The Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), formerly ''Iridomyrmex humilis'', is an ant native to northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil. It is an invasive species that has been established in many Mediterranean c ...

. He is credited with naming the harvesting ant species, ''Aphaenogaster treatae'', for naturalist Mary Davis Treat, in honor of her research on the species.Early American Nature Writers: A Biographical Encyclopedia
edited by Daniel Patterson, Roger Thompson, J. Scott Bryson

Life and career

Mayr was born into the family of a lawyer, Ignaz Mayr, and his wife, née Rosalie Holzer, in Vienna. After completing classical high school and studying at the faculty of philosophy, Mayr began studying medicine in Vienna. From 1851, he was a member of the Vienna Botanical and Zoological Society (Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft). He was a doctor of medicine in 1856, then taught natural sciences and chemistry in secondary schools in Pest, but he lost his post in 1861, because of the Magyarization laws which prohibited teaching in German in Hungarian secondary schools. He moved to Vienna, where he taught natural history in an Oberrealschule, until his retirement in 1892. The honorary title of imperial advisor (kaiserlicher Rat) was then awarded to him, after having received the golden cross of merit in 1876. Mayr was passionate about entomology and in particular about the Hymenoptera, and specialised in the

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

of ants. He donated one of his collections of hymenopterans, bringing together 1,350 species represented by around 5,500 specimens, to the

Natural History Museum, Vienna The Natural History Museum Vienna (german: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most important natural history museums worldwide. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museum ...

, in 1896. Another collection of 2,180 species of ants, and other collections of insects was bequeathed by him in his will to the Vienna Botanical and Zoological Society, but they later sold it to the museum, not having the facilities to maintain it. Between 1862 and 1901, he described 58

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

of ant (including ''

Acromyrmex ''Acromyrmex'' is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This genus is found in South America and parts of Central America and the Caribbean Islands, and contains 33 known species. Commonly known as " leafcutter ants" they compri ...

'', ''

Anochetus ''Anochetus'' is a genus of small, carnivorous ants found in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world. This genus is present in both the Old and New World and is certainly native to all continents except Antarctica and Europe. In Europe o ...

'', ''

Aphaenogaster ''Aphaenogaster'' is a genus of myrmicine ants. About 200 species have been described, including 18 fossil species. They occur worldwide except in South America south of Colombia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Antarctica. They are often confused w ...

'', '' Camponotus'', '' Formicoxenus'', '' Leptothorax'', ''

Monomorium ''Monomorium'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. As of 2013 it contains about 396 species. It is distributed around the world, with many species native to the Old World tropics. It is considered to be "one of the more important gr ...

'', and ''

Tetramorium ''Tetramorium'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae that includes more than 520 species. These ants are also known as pavement ants. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Tetramorium'' was first described by Gustav Mayr in 1855 in the same pub ...

'') and over 500 new species of ants. He also described unique collections of fossil ants preserved in

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

(1868), ants from Tibet brought back by the expeditions of

Nikolay Przhevalsky Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (or Prjevalsky;; pl, Nikołaj Przewalski, . – ) was a Russian geographer of Polish descent (he was born in a Polish noble family), and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia. Although he never reache ...

, and ants from Turkestan collected by explorer Alexei Fedchenko. He was responsible for writing the zoological part concerning ants in the travel report of the Austrian Imperial Novara expedition that circumnavigated the world between 1857 and 1859. He died in Vienna.

Works

Mayr's works include: * ''Formicidae er Novara-Expedition' (Ants of the Novara Expedition). Vienna 1865. * ''Die Ameisen des baltischen Bernsteins'' (The Ants of Baltic Amber). Königsberg: Koch, 1868. * ''Feigeninsecten'' (Fig Insects). Vienna: Hölder, 1885. * ''Hymenopterologische Miscellen'' (Hymenopteran Miscellanea). Vienna: Hölder, 1902. * ''Formiciden aus Ägypten und dem Sudan'' (Ants from Egypt and Sudan). (1903).

References

Portrait Obits.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayr, Gustav 1830 births 1908 deaths Scientists from Vienna Austrian entomologists Hymenopterists Myrmecologists 19th-century Austrian physicians 20th-century Austrian physicians