Blasius Merrem


Blasius Merrem was a German naturalist, zoologist, ornithologist, mathematician, and herpetologist. In 1804, he became the professor of political economy and botany at the University of Marburg.

Early life

Merrem was born at Bremen, and studied at the university of Göttingen under Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He developed an interest in zoology, particularly ornithology.

Ornithology

He is remembered chiefly as the first ornithologist to propose a division of birds into Ratitae and Carinatae, which formed part of his classification of birds in Tentamen Systematis Naturalis Avium, published in Berlin in 1816.

Herpetology

Similarly, in his 1820 opus, Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, he was the first scientist to accurately separate amphibians from reptiles, to separate crocodilians from lizards, and to combine lizards and snakes in a single order.
Merrem is honored in the scientific names of two South American snakes: the subspecies Erythrolamprus miliaris merremi, and the species Xenodon merremii.

Works