João Moojen de Oliveira (December 1, 1904 in Leopoldina, MG, Brazil – March 31, 1985 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 ...

, RJ, Brazil) was a zoologist dedicated to the systematics of Brazilian mammals, particularly

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

s and

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

s. He was also interested in birds. He collected extensively between the 1930s and 50s and wrote "Os Roedores do Brasil" in 1952, a key book on Brazilian rodents. He was an authority on spiny rats of the genus ''

Phyllomys ''Phyllomys'' is a genus of arboreal spiny rat, geographically restricted to the forests of eastern Brazil. The etymology of the genus name derives from the two ancient greek words (), meaning "plant leaf", and (), meaning "mouse, rat". Phy ...

''. As well as performing research, Moojen worked significantly as a teacher and technical advisor; positions held include: head of the Biology Department of Escola Superior de Agricultura e Veterinária do Estado de Minas Gerais, in Viçosa; Professor-Head of Natural History of Colégio Universitário da Universidade do Brasil; Naturalist of Vertebrate and Invertebrate Zoology Division of

Museu Nacional The National Museum of Brazil ( pt, Museu Nacional) is the oldest scientific institution of Brazil. It is located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where it is installed in the Paço de São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher's Palace), which is ins ...

including headed this division into two stages and collected most of the mammals deposited in this collection and in Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; zoologist of the Rockefeller Foundation; member of Society of the

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

for the Promotion of Research in Science, the American Society of Mammalogists, the Cooper Ornithological Club and Phi Sigma Biological Society; commissioned by the Federal Government to organize the

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

Zoo-Botanical, and was also Director of the Department for Nature Protection of Brasília.

Genus and species of Rodents described by Moojen

Genus * ''

Juscelinomys ''Juscelinomys'' is a genus of burrowing mice. The name is derived from Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a prominent Bra ...

'' Moojen, 1965 Species and sub-species * '' Trinomys paratus'' Moojen, 1948 * '' Trinomys gratiosus'' Moojen, 1948 ** ''T. g. gratiosus'' Moojen, 1948 ** ''T. g. bonafidei'' Moojen, 1948 * ''

Phyllomys kerri Kerr's Atlantic tree-rat or Moojen's Atlantic tree rat (''Phyllomys kerri''), is a spiny rat species found in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both Sout ...

'' Moojen, 1950 * '' Juscelinomys candango'' Moojen, 1965 * '' Kerodon acrobata'' Moojen, Locks & Langguth, 1997

Genus and species in honor of Moojen

* Pisces – Characidae: ''Moojenichthys'' Ribeiro, 1956 * Opilionida – Gonyleptidae: ''Moojenia'' Mello Leitão, 1935 * Diplopoda – Vanhoeffeniidae: ''Moojenodesmus'' Schubart, 1944 * Reptilia – Viperidae: ''

Bothrops moojeni ''Bothrops moojeni'', commonly known in English as the Brazilian lancehead, is a species of venomous snake in the family Viperidae. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, ...

'' Hoge, 1965 * Scorpinida – Bothriuridae: ''Bothriurus moojeni'' Mello Leitão, 1945 * Scolopendromorpha – Scolopendridae: ''Scolopendra angulata'' moojeni Bücherl, 1941 * Rodentia – Echimyidae: ''Trinomys moojeni'' Pessôa, Oliveira & Reis, 1992 * Rodenia – Cricetidae: '' Oligoryzomys moojeni'' Weksler & Bonvicino, 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moojen, Joao 1904 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Brazilian zoologists