Wilhelm von Winthem (1799–1847) was a naturalist and

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 ...

from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, who was chiefly interested in

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

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

. Well placed in a port city, von Winthem built a world collection. Joachim Steetz. 1848. Nekrolog err Wilhelm von Winthem ''Stettiner entomologische Zeitung'', ix(July,1848):194-198, http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Entomologische-Zeitung-Stettin_9_0194-0198.pdf, accessed 30 Jun 2018. Ernst Friedrich Germar. 1848. Nachschrift ach der nekrologie für Herr Wilhelm von Winthem ''Stettiner entomologische Zeitung'', ix(July,1848):198, http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Entomologische-Zeitung-Stettin_9_0194-0198.pdf, accessed 30 Jun 2018. Winthem belonged to a long-established family of Hamburg merchants. A successful merchant himself he became very wealthy. He purchased huge numbers of insects, concentrating on

and

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. ...

. Johann Wilhelm Meigen worked on his European Diptera and he purchased the collection of Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann (who had borrowed specimens from him including flies from Brazil), and many others. Thus he built the most important Diptera collection of the age. *"''For almost all the Diptera described in the present paper we are indebted to Wilhelm von Winthem of Hamburg, a young man who is collecting native and exotic insects with unusual enthusiasm and who has already made many welcome discoveries''." — Wiedemann, 1819, Brasilianische Zweiflügler, ''Zoologisches Magazin'' (Kiel), 1(3):40-56. In 1852 his collection was sold to the Imperial Museum in Vienna. Kept separately until at least 1880 it was finally incorporated into the main Diptera collections of the Naturhistorisches Museum. Von Winthem's specimens are identified with a printed label "coll. Winthem", usually with the species name added and, appropriately, with Wiedemann's or Meigen's handwritten labels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winthem, Wilhelm von 1799 births 1847 deaths German entomologists Hymenopterists Dipterists German naturalists