Johann Andreas Schnabl


Johann Andreas Schnabl was born a Pole of German descent, and an entomologist specializing in Diptera. His original name was Jan Sznabla, but he changed it to Johann Andreas Schnabl so that it was more accessible to people who did not speak Polish. His family moved from Dresden to Warsaw in the late 18th century. Warsaw was the capital of South Prussia at that time.
Trained as a physician, he taught classes in natural history in Warsaw. His wide-ranging travels included scientific trips to the Caucasus, the Urals, Lapland, the Pyrenees, Corsica, Hungary and Peru.
He is the taxonomic author of the family Fanniidae and the genera Spilogona and Paregle. With Heinrich Dziedzicki, he described the genera Polietina, Pegoplata and Villeneuvia.
He is commemorated with the species Mycetophila schnablii and Cheilosia schnabli as well as Amorphochilus schnablii, commonly known as the smoky bat, a chiropteran native to western South America.

Publications