Peter Maassen, also J. Peter Maassen (9 December 1810 – 2 August 1890), was a German
entomologist
Entomology () is the 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 as arach ...
born in
Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
.
He originally intended to be a member of the clergy, but ultimately spent more than 35 years as an employee (later as superintendent) of the Berg-Markisch Railway which runs through the
Wupper Valley. In this capacity he was stationed in
Aix-la-Chapelle
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
,
Elberfeld
Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929.
History
The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was in a docu ...
and lastly
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
.
During his lifetime he amassed a large collection of
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
specimens from European and exotic locales. His personal entomological excursions largely took place in Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
His principal work was titled ''Beitrage zur Schmetterlingskunde'', a five-part series on
Saturniidae
Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and gi ...
that was first published in 1869. Later parts of the work were co-authored with
Gustav Weymer
Gustav Weymer (1833–1914) was a German entomologist.
He described many new taxa of butterflies from specimens collected by Alphons Stübel
in South America.
His own collections and those he worked on are conserved in Museum für Naturkund ...
(1833–1914). Also with Weymer, he wrote (1890) ''Lepidopteren gesammelt auf einer Reise durch Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Brasilien, Argentinien und Bolivien in den Jahren 1868-1877 von Alphons Stübel'', published in Berlin by A. Asher & Co. Other literary efforts by Maassen were for the most part confined to articles printed in the ''
Stettiner entomologische Zeitung''.
He died in
Falkensteig on August 2, 1890, during an exploratory trip to the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
. His collection is conserved in
Museum für Naturkunde
The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...
in Berlin.
References
The Entomologist's monthly magazine, Volume 26(obituary)
*Obituary: "
Entomologist
Entomology () is the 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 as arach ...
" 23: 328
External links
*
BHLOnline ''Beitrage zur Schmetterlingskunde''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maassen, Peter
German lepidopterists
People from Duisburg
1810 births
1890 deaths