Oronzo Gabriele Costa (26 August 1787, Alessano – 7 November 1867

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

) was an Italian

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 ...

. At first a physician, he taught zoology at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

. He wrote 126 papers on various subjects, principally

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 ...

, and in 1846 served as president of the

Accademia Pontaniana The Accademia Pontaniana was the first academy in the modern sense, as a learned society for scholars and humanists and guided by a formal statute. Patronized by Alfonso V of Aragon, it was founded by the poet Antonio Beccadelli in Naples during ...

in Naples. His two sons,

Achille Costa Achille Costa (10 August 1823, Lecce – 17 November 1899 Rome) was an Italian zoologist working mainly in entomology who was appointed director of the Zoological Museum of Naples. He founded the entomological collections in Naples and describe ...

(1823-1899) and Giuseppe Costa, were also both well known zoologists.

Publications

There has been a good deal of confusion over the publication details of his most important work, the ''Fauna del Regno di Napoli'' (full title: ''Fauna del Regno di Napoli, ossia, enumerazione di tutti gli animali che abitano le diverse regioni di questo regno e le acque che le bagnano''), published over a long period of time, including

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

, in collaboration with his son,

. Taeger and Blank (1996; p. 253) state that for some of the work, Oronzio was merely the editor, Achille being the actual author, and whose name appears on the title page. * Fauna Vesuviana (1827). * Fauna di Aspromonte (1828). * Fauna del Regno di Napoli 1829 – 1886 (continued after his death by

)

References

Bibliography

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External links

Biography

List of his books in BHL

Texts of published work at GDZ (Göttinger DigitalisierungsZentrum)

Göttingen State and University Library The Göttingen State and University Library (german: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen or SUB Göttingen) is the library for Göttingen University as well as for the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and is the state li ...

1787 births 1867 deaths Italian zoologists Italian entomologists {{entomologist-stub