Jan Šnoflák (4 May 1891 – 9 April 1954) was a Czech entomologist and school teacher. He studied the

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the 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 parasitic. Females typi ...

of the

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

n region. He specialized on the

Sphecidae The Sphecidae are a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family of wasps of the suborder Apocrita that includes Ammophilinae, sand wasps, mud daubers, and other thread-waisted wasps. The name Sphecidae was formerly given to a much larger g ...

Braconidae The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis ...

, and the

Apidae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...

and

Vespoidea Vespoidea is a superfamily of wasps in the order Hymenoptera. Vespoidea includes wasps with a large variety of lifestyles including eusocial, social, and solitary habits, predators, scavengers, parasitoids, and some herbivores. Descriptio ...

of the Mohelenská hadcová step ('Mohelno serpentine steppe'). Šnoflák was born in Římov near

Třebíč Třebíč (; ) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 35,000 inhabitants. The beginnings of the town's history are connected with the establishment of a Benedictines, Benedictine monastery, where the castle is loca ...

, Austria-Hungary. He became interested in nature through his mother who was a mushroom collector. He was influenced by the malacologist Josef Uličný and the botanist Rudolf Dvořák. After studies at the Třebíč gymnasium he went to

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

to study natural history. World War I interrupted his studies and he served on the front for six years and he returned to finish his studies only in 1920. He then worked in

Hodonín Hodonín (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Geography Hodonín is located about southeast of Brno, on the border with Slovakia. It lies in a flat landscape of the Lower Morava Va ...

and later in

Znojmo Znojmo (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian Region. The hi ...

as a teacher. When World War II broke out with the occupation of Sudetenland, he escaped to

Lipník nad Bečvou Lipník nad Bečvou (; ) is a town in Přerov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reser ...

and then taught at

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

at the teacher's institute and then taught Russian at the gymnasium in Brno-Žabovřesky. In 1938 he attended the entomological congress and after that he concentrated on entomological research in collaboration with František Gregor, especially on the Hymenoptera. He worked at the Agricultural Research Institute in Brno. His collection of insects with nearly 50,000 specimens is held at the

Moravské zemské muzeum Moravské zemské muzeum (English: ''Moravian Museum'') is a museum in Brno in the Czech Republic. It is the second-largest and second-oldest museum in the country. Its collections include several million objects from many fields of science and cu ...

in Brno. He published a monograph on the Sphecidae of Czechoslovakia in 1948 in collaboration with Vilém Zavadil (1876–1953). He also studied the genera ''

Spilomena ''Spilomena'' is a genus of aphid wasps in the family Pemphredonidae. The 86 species are found worldwide being represented in the Palearctic (highest number of species), Nearctic, Afrotropical, Neotropical, Australasian, and Indomalayan realms. ...

'', ''

Ammoplanus ''Ammoplanus'' is a genus of aphid wasps in the family Ammoplanidae Ammoplanidae is a family of aphid wasps formerly treated as the Crabronidae subtribe Ammoplanina. There are about 10 genera and at least 130 described species in Ammoplanina. ...

'', ''Ammophila'', ''Phanerotoma'', ''Phanerotomella'', and ''Chelonus''. He was a member of the Moravian-Silesian Academy of Natural Sciences and the Czechoslovak Entomological Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snoflak, Jan 1891 births 1954 deaths People from Třebíč District Czech entomologists