Johann Christian Fabricius - Entomologist

From Today in Science History:

Johann Christian Fabricius, born January 7, 1745, died March 3, 1808. Danish entomologist who was one of the great entomologists of the 18th century. After studying with Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, Fabricius travelled widely in Europe to see insect collections and produced many publications describing all the new species that he saw. He named and classified some 10,000 species of insects. The system of classification of insects he developed was based on mouth structure (instead of wing). He offered theories, progressive for his time, suggesting that hybridization could produce produce new species or varieties, and that environmental adaptation could influence changes in anatomical structure or function.

His works include:

• Genera Insectorum (1776),
• Species Insectorum (1781),
• Mantissa Insectorum (1787), and his main work,
• Entomologicae Systematica I-IV, (1792-1794) followed by
• Supplementum Entomologiae Systematicae (1798).

- Gallica2 Digital Library has many scans of his books.
- Some of his letters to Linnaeus at the Linnean Society

(Image from World Diptera Taxonomists)