Vasily Evgrafovich Yakovlev (russian: Василий Евграфович Яковлев; also transliterated Vasiliy Ewgrafowitsch Jakovlev or Vasiliy Yevgrafovich Yakovlev; 9 February 1839 – 15 August 1908) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

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 ...

who studied fishes, molluscs and insects. He is not to be confused with Alexander Ivanovich Yakovlev, another

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 ...

. His name was spelled Wassily Ewgrafowitsch Jakowlew in French, in which he sometimes wrote. Yakovlev lived in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, but travelled extensively collecting insects in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

region and

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...

until he finally travelled and settled in

Griffin, GA Griffin is a city in and the county seat of Spalding County, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 23,478. Griffin was founded in 1840 and named for landowner Col. Lewis Law ...

. Although primarily interested in

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 ...

Yakovlev also worked on

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

and

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 ...

. From around 1867 Yakovlev conducted zoological observations in the vicinity of

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

. Yakovlev described

Caspian roach The Caspian roach (''Rutilus caspicus'') is a species of roach fish living in the Caspian Sea. The Caspian roach can be distinguished from other roaches by its laterally compressed body, silvery grey iris, rounded snout and grey pectoral pelvic ...

(''Rutilus caspicus'') and

Volga undermouth The Volga undermouth or Volga nase (''Chondrostoma variabile'') is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish. This one lives in the Emba, Ural and Volga drainages of the Caspian Sea basin, and the Don River drainage of the Black Sea The B ...

(''Chondrostoma variabile'').

Publications

Partial list *Description de quelques Longicornes paléarctiques nouveaux ou peu connus. ''Horae Soc. Ent. Ross''. 29: 506–514. (1895) *De speciebus novis generum Dorcadion Dalm. et Neodorcadion Ganglb.''Annuaire Mus. Zool. St.-Pétersburg'' 4: 237–244 (1899). *Etude sue les Neodorcadion da l'Asie Russe (Coleoptera,

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns, are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than ...

)''Rev. Russ. d'Entom''. 1 (4–5): 146–166 (1901). * A new species of Neodorcadion Ganglb. (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) ''Rev. Russ. d'Entom''. 6: 1–2. (1906) * Lepidoptera palaearctica nova descripta a Gr. Grum-Grshimailo. III 290–293 Corrigenda. Auctore G. Jacobson 294–297."Trudy Russkago entomologicheskago obshchestva. Horae ( ) * Hemiptera of the Volga region fauna. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta, Otdelenie Fiziko-Matematicheskikh i Meditsinskikh Nauk 1

864 __NOTOC__ Year 864 ( DCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Louis II (the Younger) marches with a Frankish army ag ...

109–129 (1865). * Lucanides nouveaux ou peu connus.''Horae Soc. Ent. Ross''

References

* Semenov-Tian-Shanski, A. (1910) Vasily Evgrafovich Jakovlev. ''Horae Societatis Entomologicheskago Rossicae'' 39:1–57+1 portrait (in Russian) 1839 births 1908 deaths People from Volgograd People from Tsaritsynsky Uyezd Biologists from the Russian Empire Russian lepidopterists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Russian zoologists Russian ichthyologists 19th-century scientists from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian scientists {{entomologist-stub