Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel ''Gistl(11 August 1809 – 9 March 1873) was a German naturalist. He worked at the Museum of Natural History in Regensburg, and wrote on a range of topics under the pseudonyms Garduus and G. Tilesius (an anagram). His contributions to entomology include descriptions of species, with many new names he proposed now mostly relegated to synonymy. Gistel's father Franz Xaver Gistl (1783–1815) worked at the a royal riding school and died in 1813. Gistel was raised by his mother, Maria Anna Gistl (née Hahn, born 1772) and his older sister Katharina Leonora (born 1808). School records indicate that his original name was Lorenz Gistl. He was educated in schools in Rempart and Schönfeld before joining the royal gymnasium in Munich in 1822. His degrees in medicine and philosophy appear to be fake. He wrote works on

entomology Entomology () is the science, 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 ...

such as ''Die jetzt lebenden Entomologen, Kerffreunde und kerfsammler Europa’s und der übrigen Continente'' (1836) and ''Achthundert und zwanzig neue oder unbeschriebene wirbellose Thiere'' (1857), as well as

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 ...

descriptions of

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

amphibia Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

ns and

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil sp ...

. Gistel was ignored by most of his contemporary entomologists. He has been accused of plagiarism and has been described as vain, boastful, superficial, a cheat, a liar, and a "tragi-comic figure" by Embrik Strand and

Walther Horn Walther Hermann Richard Horn (19 October 1871 – 10 July 1939) was a German entomologist who specialised in beetles (Coleoptera). He was born in Berlin, where he also died. He is not to be confused with the American entomologist George Henry Hor ...

. His isolation may have prompted him to establish his own journal, ''Faunus'' (1832–1835), where he published most of his species descriptions. He was the sole member of a society, the ''Münchener Verein für Naturkunde,'' which issued honorary diplomas in a bid to gain favours from selected entomologists. Such honorary diplomas were offered to

Lorenz Oken Lorenz Oken (1 August 1779 – 11 August 1851) was a German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist. Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss (german: Okenfuß) in Bohlsbach (now part of Offenburg), Ortenau, Baden, and studied natural history and ...

(an erstwhile mentor of Gistel) and

Maximilian Perty Josef Anton Maximilian Perty (17 September 1804, Ornbau – 8 August 1884, Bern) was a German naturalist and entomologist. He was a professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at the University of Bern.Gregor Mendel was said to have failed an exam to become a teacher because he made a mistake on the orders of mammals, having referred to Gistel's ''Naturgeschichte des Thierreichs''. Gistel lived in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in the family estate at Geisenbrunn. Part of his collections are in

Zoologische Staatssammlung München The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (german: Zoologische Staatssammlung München) or ZSM is a major German research institution for zoological systematics in Munich. It has over 20 million zoological specimens. It is one of the largest natur ...

Works

A partial list includes: *Gistel, J., 1831. ''Entomologische Fragmente''. ''

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

'', 3: 301-310. *Gistel, J., 1834. ''Die Insecten-Doubletten aus der Sammlung des Grafen Rudolph von Jenison Walworth zu Regensburg, welche sowohl im Kauf als im Tausche abgegeben werden, Nro. Käfer'', München, II + 35 pp. *Gistel, J., 1839. ''Systema Insectorum, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, synonymis, annotationibus, locis et iconibus. Tomus imus. Coleoptera. Monachii'', Heft I, 1837: 16 + 64 pp. + 1 pl., Heft II, 1838: 65-113. *Gistel, J. N. F. X. 1846, ''Lexikon der entomologischen Welt, der carcinologischen und arachnologischen. Adressenbuch der lebenden Entomologen und Entomophilen etc.; der Carcinologen und Arachnologen sammt ihren Schriften, dann der Naturforscher-Akademien und deren Verhandlungen, der zoologischen Ephemeriden, Bibliographien, Biographien und Real-Wörterbücher, der öffentlichen und Privat-Sammlungen der Welt, der Schriften über Sammlungs- und Aufbewahrungsweise der Gliederthiere, mit doppelten Registern und einer Aufzählung aller entomologischen, carcinologischen und arachnologischen Schriftsteller von Aristoteles an bis zur Gegenwart''. Stuttgart, Schweizerbart *Gistel, J., 1848.
Naturgeschichte des Thierreichs für höhere Schulen
'. Stuttgart, 216 pp. + 32 pl. *Gistel, J., 1857. ''Vacuna oder die Geheimnisse aus der organischen und leblosen Welt. Ungedruckte Originalien-Sammlung von grösstentheils noch lebenden und verstorbenen gelehrten aus dem gebiete sämmtlicher Naturwischenschaften, der Medizin, Literaturgeschichte, des Forst- und Jagdwesens, der Oekonomie, Geschichte, Biographie und der freien schönen Künste, herausgeg''. Straubing, Band I, 4+453 pp, Band II, 1031 pp.

References

Other sources

*Evenhuis, N. L. 1997, ''Litteratura taxonomica dipterorum'' (1758–1930). Volume 1 (A-K); Volume 2 (L-Z). Leiden, Backhuys Publishers. *Pont, A. C. 1995, The Dipterist C. R. W. Wiedemann (1770–1840). His life, work and collections. ''Steenstrupia'' 21: 125–154. *Scherer, G. 1992, Die Sektion Coleoptera der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München. ''Spixiana Suppl''. 17: 61–71, 5 Abb. 65-66 (collection). {{DEFAULTSORT:Gistel, Johannes Von Nepomuk Franz Xaver German naturalists German entomologists 1809 births 1873 deaths