Wilhelm Michaelsen

Johann Wilhelm Michaelsen (9 October 1860, Hamburg - 18 February 1937) was a German zoologist who was a world authority on the Oligochaeta which includes the earthworms.[1] He named and described more than a thousand new species.

Die geographische Verbreitung der Oligochaeten (1903)

Michaelsen was born to Friedrich Rudolph and Johanna Catharina Ferdinandine née Köhn. In 1887 he commenced work at the Hamburg Zoological Museum, at first as a research assistant. He was later to become Hauptkustus (chief curator).[1] Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880-1930) was a friend of Michaelsen and made use of his biogreographical work for some of his ideas on plate tectonics. Michaelsen named a species of earthworm after him as Wegeneriella Michaelsen, 1933. He also collaborated with John Stephenson.[2]

Though he also worked in the study of Tunicates and Polychaetes, Michaelsen was best known for his work on Oligochaeta. To that end, he travelled to southern regions of South America, Africa and Australia to investigate the fossil records of ancient Oligochaete distribution.[1]

Michaelsen was married to Agnes Huwald and they had no children.

Michaelsen is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, Strophurus michaelseni.[3]

References
  1. "Prof. J. W. Michaelsen". Nature. Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. 140 (3538): 308–309. 21 August 1943. doi:10.1038/140308a0. ISSN 1476-4687. OCLC 01586310.
  2. Sherlock, Emma; Berridge, Louise (2012). "History of the earthworm collections at the Natural History Museum, London (Oligochaeta)". Zoology in the Middle East. 58: 151–158. doi:10.1080/09397140.2012.10649001.
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Michaelsen", p. 178).


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