Wilhem de Haan (7 February 1801 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

– 15 April 1855 in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

) was a Dutch

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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. He specialised in the study of insects and

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapoda, decapods, ostracoda, seed shrimp, branchiopoda, branchiopods, argulidae, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopoda, isopods, barnacles, copepods, ...

s, and was the first keeper of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chorda ...

s at the Rijksmuseum in

, now

Naturalis Naturalis Biodiversity Center ( nl, Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis) is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. Al ...

. He was forced to retire in 1846, when he was partially paralysed by a spinal disease. He was responsible for the invertebrate volume of

Siebold Siebold or von Siebold is a German surname: * Carl Caspar von Siebold (1736–1807), surgeon * Regina von Siebold (1771–1849), obstetrician * Adam Elias von Siebold (1775–1828), medical doctor * Charlotte von Siebold (1788–1859), gynaecolo ...

's ''

Fauna Japonica ''Fauna Japonica'' is a series of monographs on the zoology of Japan. It was the first book written in a European language ( French) on the Japanese fauna, and published serially in five volumes between 1833 and 1850. The full title is . Based ...

'', which was published in 1833, and introduced the western world for the first time to

Japanese wildlife The wildlife of Japan includes its flora, fauna, and natural habitats. The islands of Japan stretch a long distance from north to south and cover a wide range of climatic zones. This results in a high diversity of wildlife despite Japan's isolat ...

. He named a great many new taxa, and several taxa are named in his honour. He published significant work on both mantids and phasmids (1842).

References

*de Haan, W. ''Bijdragen tot de Kennis Orthoptera.'' in C.J. Temminck, ''Verhandelingen over de natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche Bezittingen.'' volume 2.(1842) *

External links

Fauna Japonica online
– de Haan's work begins on the 36th page. 1801 births 1855 deaths Dutch biologists Dutch zoologists Dutch lepidopterists Dutch carcinologists Scientists from Amsterdam People from Leiden Leiden University alumni {{netherlands-scientist-stub