Otto von Wettstein, name also given as Otto Wettstein-Westersheimb, (7 August 1892, 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 ...

– 10 July 1967) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

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 ...

. He was the son of

botanist 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 wo ...

Richard Wettstein __NOTOC__ Richard Wettstein (30 June 1863 in Vienna – 10 August 1931 in Trins) was an Austrian botanist. His taxonomic system, the Wettstein system, was one of the earliest based on phyletic principles. Wettstein studied in Vienna, where he was ...

and the brother of botanist

Fritz von Wettstein Friedrich Wettstein, Ritter von Westersheim (24 June 1895 in Prague – 12 February 1945 in Trins, Tirol) was an Austrian botanist. Academic career Fritz Wettstein was the son of Richard Wettstein. From 1925 he was professor at Göttingen, i ...

. He is best remembered for his work in the field of

herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

; of his 205 published scientific papers, 60 of these involved herpetological topics.Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
The herpetological Collection Due to spells of severe tympanitis in his youth, Wettstein's hearing was greatly impaired as an adult. Beginning in 1915, he was associated with the

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 ...

in Vienna. Here, his instructors included zoologists

Karl Grobben Karl Grobben (27 August 1854, in Brno – 13 April 1945, in Salzburg) was an Austrian biologist. He graduated from, and later worked at, the University of Vienna, chiefly on molluscs and crustaceans. He was also the editor of a new edition of Car ...

and

Franz Werner Franz Josef Maria Werner (15 August 1867 in Vienna – 28 February 1939 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist and explorer. Specializing as a herpetologist and entomologist, Werner described numerous species and other taxa of frogs, snakes, inse ...

as well as

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Othenio Abel Othenio Lothar Franz Anton Louis Abel (June 20, 1875 – July 4, 1946) was an Austrian paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. Together with Louis Dollo, he was the founder of "paleobiology" and studied the life and environment of fossilized or ...

. In 1920, he succeeded

Friedrich Siebenrock Friedrich Siebenrock (20 January 1853, Schörfling am Attersee – 28 January 1925, Vienna) was an Austrian herpetologist. Biography He studied zoology at the Universities of Innsbruck and Vienna, afterwards serving as a demonstrator under ...

as curator of the herpetological collection at the museum. Under Wettstein's helm, within five years, the museum's

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

and

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

collection became one of the largest in Europe. With Franz Werner and botanist

Karl Heinz Rechinger Professor Karl Heinz Rechinger Hon FRSE (16 October 1906, Vienna – 30 December 1998, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist and phytogeographer. Life Karl Heinz Rechinger was born in Vienna on 16 October 1906. He was the son of Dr Karl Rechinge ...

, he accumulated a collection of

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

s from southeastern Europe, publishing "''Die Vogelwelt der Ägäis'' " (The Birds of the Aegean, 1938) and "''Die Säugetierwelt der Ägäis'' " (The Mammals of the Aegean, 1941) as a result. His work on Aegean amphibians and reptiles, "''Herpetologia Aegaea'' ", was based on excursions to the region in 1934, 1935, 1942 and 1954. In collaboration with others, he made important contributions to the multi-volume series "''Catalogus faunae Austriae'' ". After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he worked as a forestry manager at the Federal Research Institute of Forestry in Mariabrunn. A subspecies of

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

, '' Vipera ursinii wettsteini'' (Knöpfler & Sochurek, 1955) is named after him.The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles
by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wettstein, Otto von 1892 births 1967 deaths Scientists from Vienna Austrian herpetologists 20th-century Austrian zoologists