G. E. Grumm-Grshimailo

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Grigorii Efimovitsch Grumm-Grshimailo,(Г.Е. Грумм-Гржимайло) also Grum-Grshmailo, Groum-Grshmailo (1860—1936) was a Russian entomologist, best known for his expeditions to Central Asia (Pamir, Buchara, Tian-Shan, Kan-su und Kuku-nor) in 1893 and 1895.

1 Life and work
2 Publications
3 Collections
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Life and work

Born in St. Petersburg his early interest was in the phylloxera problem in the vineyards of N. Y. Danilewsky. He wrote his first scientific work at the age of 21 on some lepidoptera of Crimea. (1882, volume 8 of the 'Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society).

He was associated with Professor M. N. Bogdanov at the St. Petersburg Museum and contributed many of his own collection to it. He also studied the collections of the museum that had been made by N. M. Przewalsky, G. N. Potanin, P. P. Semenov-Tian-Shanskij and other explorers of Central Asia.

From 1882, G. E. Grumm-Grshimailo studied Lepidoptera from the Bessarabia, the Podolsk region, Crimea and the Baltic and got interested in zoogeography. While collecting near Sarepta, he met the German collector Rückbeil. He also met the Grand Duke N. M. Romanoff who suggested that he should publish his work. He also promised support for an expedition in the Pamirs. In 1884 he started his first Pamir expedition on which he visited the Alai Mt. Range ascending the Trans-Alai range via Pass Tersagarsky to reach the upper Muksu river to reach Fedtschenko's glacier. He visited Lake Karakul and returned. he collected 12,000 specimens with 30 new to science. Spurred by the interest he made a second expedition in 1885 visiting Karateghin, Darvaz, Bukhara Khanate, Ghissar, Kulyab, Beldzhuan, Shakhrisiabz, Karshi, Guzara, Shirabad, Kabadian and Kurgan-Tyube. This time he collected 20,000 specimens of insects.

His third expedition was in 1886 along the Kara-Darya, via Pass Kugart, then up along the Naryn valley to the Narynsky Fortress (now the town of Naryn), and from there to the south toward At-Bashi and further to the southwest along the broad valley of At-Bashi River, by the At-Bashi Mt. Range, along the Great Silk Route to Tash-Rabat and Lake Chatyr-Kel. They went until Kashgar and then via Pass Irkeshtam and back to Osh.

He made several more expeditions in the succeeding years but he later lost much of the early interest in entomology owing in part to a conflict with the sponsor of his expeditions. A term was that the materials he collected were to go to the Grand Duke N. M. Romanoff, but he needed a private collection. He was accused of embezzling material and financial difficulties made him sell part of his collection to Henry John Elwes.

[edit] Publications

Partial list

Novae species et varietas Rhopalocerum Horae Soc. ent. Rossicae, 22: 303-307 (1888)
Le Pamir et la faune lépidoptérologique. Mém. lépidop. Ed. N. M. Romanoff 4 volumes 576 p., 21 pl. (1890)
Lepidoptera nova in Asia centrali novissime lecta et descripta Horae Soc. ent. Ross. 25 (3-4): 445-465 (1891)
Lepidoptera nova vei parum cognita regionis palaearcticae. I. Ezhegod. Zool Mus. Imp. Akad. Nauk, Ann. Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sc. Volume 4 (1899) (in Russian).
Lepidoptera nova vel parum cognita regionis palaearcticae. II. Ezhegod. Zool. Mus. Imp. Acad. Nauk, Ann Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sc.,Volume 7 (1902) (in Russian)