Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann

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Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann
Born31 October 1881
Hamburg, Germany
Died3 July 1938
NationalityGerman
Scientific career
FieldsEntomology

Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann, more usually known as Ferdinand Nevermann (31 October 1881 – 3 July 1938) was a German entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.

Biography[edit]

Nevermann was born in Hamburg on 31 October 1881. His parents were Johann Joachim Heinrich Nevermann and Johanna Henriette Nevermann [née Meier].[1]

Nevermann spent much of his working life in Costa Rica, where he was a resident from about 1909.[2] He owned a banana plantation called the Hamburg Farm near the Reventazón River at Ebene, Limón[3] (near the modern town of Cairo[4]), and was a professor at the National School of Agriculture.[5]

Nevermann married Annie Rownd Deters (1888-1984) in 1909, and they had four children.[6]

The Dunn's Road Guarder snake, Crisantophis nevermanni (Dunn, 1937), was given its specific name by Emmett Reid Dunn (1894-1956) in honour of Nevermann.[7]

In June 1938 Nevermann invited his friend, the entomologist Alexander Bierig (1884-1963), to stay with him on his plantation. On the night of 30 June, while out collecting insects, Nevermann and Bierig were accidentally shot by an American hunter[8] passing through the area, who had mistaken them for an animal. Nevermann died of his injuries in the hospital at Limón on 3 July 1938.[5] Bierig was shot in the shoulder, but survived.[5]

in 1941 Nevermann's collection of Costa Rican Coleoptera was accessioned by the U.S. National Museum.[9][10] It comprised 33,000 specimens including representatives of 2,800 species, with Types of around 400 species, 10,000 Coleoptera that were unidentified plus Nevermann's field notes and observations.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann in the Hamburg, Germany, Births, 1874-1901". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  2. ^ "New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., Passenger Lists, 1813-1963 for Ferdinand Nevermann". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Gnomidolon costaricense: Martins, 1962: Cerambycidae: Coleoptera: Insecta: Arthropoda [specimen label with Hamburg farm location]". Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
  4. ^ Platnick, Norman I; Berniker, Lily; Víquez, Carlos (22 December 2014). "A new goblin spider genus of the Zyngoonops group from Costa Rica, with notes on Coxapopha (Araneae, Oonopidae)". American Museum Novitates (3820): 2–3 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. ^ a b c Hilje, Luka (13 October 2022). "La híbrida y portentosa obra de Alexander Bierig ¿Entomólogo o pintor? ¡Los dos en uno!". Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand Nevermann". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  7. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 189.
  8. ^ Beebe, William (October 1938). "Forty Bays: Along the West Coast of Central America the Department of Tropical Research Again Has Dipped Its Nets". Bulletin of the New York Zoological Society. XLI (5): 154.
  9. ^ Rehn, James A G (1942). "Note on the Genus Bertoniella (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Agraeciinae)". Entomological News. 53: 246 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  10. ^ Saylor, Lawrence Webster (1943). "Synoptic revision of the testaceipennis group of the beetle genus Phyllophaga". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 33: 109 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  11. ^ Wetmore, Alexander (1942). Report on the Progress and Condition of the United States National Museum for the Year Ended June 30, 1941. Washington: United States Government Printing Office. p. 79.