| Max Carl Wilhelm Weber | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1852 |
| Died | February 7, 1937 (aged 84) |
| Institutions | University of Utrecht, University of Amsterdam, University of Bonn, Humboldt University |
| Notable awards | Foreign Member of the Royal Society[1] |
Max Carl Wilhelm Weber or Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (5 December 1852, Bonn – 7 February 1937 Eerbeek) was a German-Dutch zoologist and biogeographer.
Weber studied at the University of Bonn, then at the Humboldt University in Berlin with the zoologist Eduard Carl von Martens (1831-1904). He obtained his doctorate in 1877. Weber taught at the University of Utrecht then participated in an expedition to the Barents Sea. After this he became Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Amsterdam (in 1883). In the same year he was naturalised Dutch.
He drew Weber's Line which encloses the region in which the mammalian fauna is exclusively Australasian. Weber's Line is an alternative to Wallace Line. As is the case with plant species, faunal surveys revealed that for vertebrate groups, except for birds, Wallace’s Line was not the most significant biogeographic boundary. The Tanimbar Island group, and not the boundary between Bali and Lombok, appears to be the major interface between the Oriental and Australasian regions for mammals, and other terrestrial vertebrate groups. Thus, for many invertebrates, and birds and butterflies, this interface is better represented by Weber’s Line than Wallace’s Line. [2]
With G.A.F. Molengraaff Weber gave names to the Sahul Shelf and the Sunda Shelf in 1919.[3]
Max Carl Wilhelm Weber was the leader of Siboga Expedition.
Contents |