Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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 ...

. Fitzinger was born in

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

and studied

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

under

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to P ...

. He worked at the Vienna

Naturhistorisches Museum 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 ...

between 1817, when he joined as a volunteer assistant, and 1821, when he left to become secretary to the provincial legislature of

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

; after a hiatus he was appointed assistant curator in 1844 and remained at the Naturhistorisches Museum until 1861. Later he became director of the zoos of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1826 he published ''Neue Classification der Reptilien'', based partly on the work of his friends

Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich (24 June 1796 – 30 June 1825) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. Hemprich was born in Kłodzko, Glatz (Kłodzko), Prussian Silesia, and studied medicine at Breslau and Berlin. It was in Berlin that ...

and

Heinrich Boie Heinrich Boie (4 May 1794, Meldorf, Holstein – 4 September 1827, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia) was a German zoologist. He was the brother of Friedrich Boie. In the field of herpetology they described 49 new species of reptiles and several ne ...

. In 1843 he published ''Systema Reptilium'', covering

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

s and

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described in 1768 by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in his bo ...

s. Fitzinger is commemorated in the scientific names of five reptiles: '' Algyroides fitzingeri'', '' Leptotyphlops fitzingeri'', '' Liolaemus fitzingerii'', ''

Micrurus tener fitzingeri ''Micrurus'' is a genus of venomous coral snakes of the family Elapidae. Geographic range Species in the genus ''Micrurus'' are endemic to the Americas. Species The following 83 species are recognized as being valid. *'' Micrurus albicinctus'' ...

'', and '' oxyrhopus fitzingeri''. WorksAs given in th
website of the ''Naturhistorisches Museum Wien''
*Fitzinger LJFJ (1826). ''Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. zoologischen Museum's zu Wien'' (New classification of reptiles according to their natural relationships, appended to a table of their relationships and a sketch of the reptile collection of the imperial and royal zoological museum of Vienna). Vienna: J.G. Hübner. vii + 66 pp. + one plate. (in German and Latin). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1835). ''Entwurf einer systematischen Anordnung der Schildkröten nach den Grundsätzen der natürlichen Methode'' (Draft of a systematic arrangement of turtles based on the principles of the natural method). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1843). ''Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae''. Vienna: Braumüller et Seidel. 106 pp. + indices (in Latin). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1850). ''Über den'' Proteus anguinus ''der Autoren'' (On the author's ''

Proteus anguinus The olm or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander in the family Proteidae, the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe. In contrast to most amphibians, it is entirely aquatic, eating, sleeping, and br ...

''). *Fitzinger LJFJ (1861). A catalog of the reptiles and amphibians collected during the ''Novara'' expedition.

Notes

19th-century Austrian zoologists Austrian taxonomists 1802 births 1884 deaths Austrian mammalogists Austrian herpetologists Scientists from Vienna University of Vienna alumni {{Austria-scientist-stub

See also

Notes