Philipp Christoph Zeller (8 April 1808 – 27 March 1883) 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 ...

. Zeller was born at

Steinheim an der Murr Steinheim an der Murr is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Murr, 9 km northeast of Ludwigsburg. It is known worldwide for the Steinheim skull, the skull of an early human fou ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

where Philipp went to the gymnasium where natural history was not taught. Instead, helped by Alois Metzner, he taught himself

entomology Entomology () is the science, 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 ...

mainly by copying books. Copying and hence memorising, developed in response to early financial privation became a lifetime habit. Zeller went next to the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

where he became a candidat, which is the first degree, obtained after two or three years' study around 1833. The subject was

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. He became an Oberlehrer or senior primary school teacher in Glogau in 1835. Then he became an instructor at the secondary school in

and in 1860 he was appointed as the senior instructor of the highest technical high school in Meseritz. He resigned this post after leaving in 1869 for

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

, home of the Stettin Entomological Society. Zeller's first entomological studies were of

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

and

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

and he especially admired Johann Wilhem Meigen's “Zweiflügler”. This is of great importance since studies of Lepidoptera were then, as now, more concerned with species descriptions than with

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

and

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

relationships and the

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal naming conventions, conventions of everyday speech to the i ...

was already very confused (and confusing). Zeller's precise, orderly approach culminated in the most significant lepidopterological work of the nineteenth century – ''The Natural History of the Tineina''. This, a monumental 13-volume monograph, was commenced in 1855 and completed in 1873. The other main authors were the Englishman

Henry Tibbats Stainton Henry Tibbats Stainton (13 August 1822 – 2 December 1892) was an English entomologist. He served as an editor for two popular entomology periodicals of his period, ''The Entomologist's Annual'' and ''The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer''. ...

, a Swiss, Heinrich Frey and another Englishman, John William Douglas. ''The Natural History of the Tineina'' appeared in English, French, German and Latin editions, the Irish entomologist

Alexander Henry Haliday Alexander Henry Haliday (1806–1870, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday, Alexis Heinrich Haliday, or simply Haliday) was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Thysanoptera, but worked on ...

doing the bulk of the translations. The work established Zeller as perhaps the greatest lepidopterist of the century. He named 186 new genera of moths GenusList2
/ref> His collection was acquired by

Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham (29 July 1843 – 3 December 1919), of Merton Hall, Norfolk, was an English politician and amateur entomologist. Biography Walsingham was the son of Thomas de Grey, 5th Baron Walsingham, and Augusta-Louis ...

and later donated to the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

Selected works

*Versuch einer naturgemässen Eintheilung der Schaben, Tinea ( Oken's ''Isis'', 1839). *Kritische Bestimmung der in Reaumur's Memoiren vorkommenden Lepidopteren (''Isis'', 1838) *Kritische Bestimmung der in de Geer's Memoiren enthaltenen Schmetterlinge (''Isis'', 1839) *Monographie des Genus Hyponomeuta (''Isis'', 1844) *Anmerkungen zu Lienig's Lepidopterologischer Fauna von Livland und Curland (''Isis'',1846) *Die Arten der Blattminiergattung Lithocolletis beschrieben (''Linnaea'', 1846) *Bemerkungen über die auf einer Reise nach Italien und Sicilien gesammelten Schmetterlingsarten" (''Isis'', 1847) *Verzeichnis der vom Professor Dr. Loew in der Türkei und Asien gesammelten Lepidoptera ''Isis von Oken'' 1847 (1) : 3-39 (1847) *Exotische Phyciden (''Isis'', 1848) *Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Coleophoren" (''Isis'', 1849) *Revision der Pterophoriden (''Isis'', 1852) *Lepidoptera microptera quae J. A. Wahlberg in caffrorum terra legit (Stockholm, 1852) *Die Arten der Gattung Butalis beschrieben (''Linnaea'', 1855) *With

Heinrich Frey Heinrich Frey (June 15, 1822 – January 17, 1890) was a German-born Swiss entomologist who studied Lepidoptera. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and died in Zurich, Switzerland. He is not to be confused with the dipterist Richard K ...

and John William Douglas ''The Natural History of the Tineina'', 13 volumes, 2000 pages (1855) *Beiträge zur Kenntnis der nordamerikanischen Nachtfalter" (3 parts, ''Verh. zool. bot. Gesellsch. Wien'', 1872–73) *Beiträge zur Lepidopterenfauna der Ober-Albula in Graubünden (''Verh. zool. bot. Gesellsch. Wien''., 1877) *Exotische Lepidopteren (''Horae soc. ent. Rossica'', 1877)

Notes

External links

SMNH
Type of ''Botys cancellalis'' Zeller, 1852

Type Zeller into th search box to reveal 3000 + taxa described by Zeller
Gaedike, R.; Groll, E. K. & Taeger, A. 2012: Bibliography of the entomological literature from the beginning until 1863 : online database – version 1.0 – Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeller, Philipp Christoph 1808 births 1883 deaths People from Ludwigsburg (district) People from the Kingdom of Württemberg German taxonomists 01 German lepidopterists 19th-century German zoologists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni