Max Carl Wilhelm Weber van Bosse or Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (5 December 1852, in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
– 7 February 1937, in
Eerbeek) was a
German-
Dutch 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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
and
biogeographer.
Weber studied at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
, then at the
Humboldt University in Berlin with the zoologist
Eduard Carl von Martens (1831–1904). He obtained his doctorate in 1877. Weber taught at the
University of Utrecht then participated in an expedition to the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian ter ...
. He became Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other bein ...
in 1883. In the same year he received naturalised
Dutch citizenship.
His discoveries as leader of the
Siboga Expedition led him to propose Weber's line, which encloses the region in which the
mammalian
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''biota''. Zoo ...
is exclusively
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...
n, as an alternative to
Wallace's Line. As is the case with plant species, faunal surveys revealed that for most vertebrate groups Wallace’s line was not the most significant biogeographic boundary. The
Tanimbar Island group, and not the boundary between Bali and Lombok, appears to be the major interface between the Oriental and Australasian regions for mammals and other terrestrial vertebrate groups.
With
G.A.F. Molengraaff, Weber gave names to the
Sahul Shelf and the
Sunda Shelf
Geologically, the Sunda Shelf is a south-eastern extension of the continental shelf of Mainland Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Bali, Borneo, Java, Madura, and Sumatra, as well as their surrounding smaller island ...
in 1919.
Weber became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1887.
Weber is commemorated in the scientific names of three species of reptiles: ''
Anomochilus weberi'', ''
Hydrosaurus weberi'', and ''
Pachydactylus weberi
Weber's thick-toed gecko (''Pachydactylus weberi'') is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to southern Africa.
Etymology
The specific name, ''weberi'', is in honor of German-Dutch zoologist Max Wilhelm Carl Web ...
''. Two species of mammal are also named after him: ''
Prosciurillus weberi
Weber's dwarf squirrel (''Prosciurillus weberi'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to northern and western Sulawesi, Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest
A forest is an area of l ...
'' and ''
Myotis weberi
Weber's myotis (''Myotis weberi'') is a species of vesper bat endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Taxonomy
It was described in 1890 as a distinct species by Fredericus Anna Jentink, but later reclassified as conspecific with or as a ...
''.
Publications
* Weber, M.
. C.(ed.), 1890-1907. ''Zoologische Ergebnisse einer Reise in Niederländisch Ost-Indien'', 1 (1890-1891):
-v i-xi, maps I-III, 1-460, pls. I-XXV; 2 (1892):
-v 1-571, pls. I-XXX; 3 (1894):
-v 1-476, pls. I-XXII; 4 (1897-1907):
-v 1-453, pls. I-XVI (E. J. Brill, Leiden) .
* Weber, M.
. C. 1902. ''Introduction et description de l'expedition", I. Siboga-expeditie .
* Weber, M.
. C. 1904b. ''Enkele resultaten der Siboga-expeditie''. Versl. gewone Vergad. wis- en natuurk. Afd. K. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, 12 (2): 910-914.
* Weber, M.
. C.& L. F. de Beaufort, 1911-1962. ''The fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago'', I (1911). Index of the ichthyological papers of P. Bleeker: i-xi, 1-410, 1 portrait; II. (1913). Malacopterygii, Myctophoidea, Ostariophysi: I Siluroidea: i-xx, 1-404, 1 portrait; III. (1916) Ostariophysi: II Cyprinoidea, Apodes, Synbranchii]: i-xv, 1-455; IV. (1922) Heteromi, Solenichthyes, Synentognathi, Percesoces, Labyrinthici, Microcyprini]: i-xiii, 1-410
Gallery
File:Portrait of Max Wilhelm Carl Weber.jpg, Portrait of Max Wilhelm Carl
File:Max and Anna Weber around 1890.jpg, Max Wilhelm Carl Weber and Anna Weber-van Bosse around 1890
File:Siboga expedition group portrait in laboratory.jpg, Siboga expedition group portrait in laboratory
File:Leden der expeditie.jpg, Siboga expedition group portrait
Taxon described by him
*See
:Taxa named by Max Carl Wilhelm Weber
See also
*
Mattheus Marinus Schepman
Mattheus Marinus Schepman (17 August 1847 – 19 November 1919) was a Dutch people, Dutch malacologist. He was one of the foremost collectors of mollusc shells in the Netherlands, and was also high on the overall list of European collectors.
Dut ...
*
Anna Weber-van Bosse
References
External links
* Querner, H., 1976. Weber, Max Wilhelm Carl. In : C. C. Gillispie (ed.), ''Dictionary of scientific biography'', 14 : 203 (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York).
* Pieters, Florence F. J. M. et Jaap de Visser, 1993. The scientific career of the zoologist Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (1852-1937). Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 62 (4): 193-214.
Biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Max Carl Wilhelm
1852 births
1937 deaths
Biogeographers
20th-century Dutch zoologists
W
19th-century German zoologists
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Scientists from Bonn
University of Amsterdam faculty
University of Bonn alumni