Knud Andersen (mammalogist)

Knud Christian Andersen (29 April 1867 in Frederiksberg – June 1918 in England) was a Danish zoologist. His research focused on bats.

Life and work

Towards the end of the 19th century, Andersen first worked as an ornithologist and ran field studies on the Faroe Islands. In 1901 Ferdinand I awarded him an appointment at the Zoological Museum of Sofia. Due to his frustration with the working conditions he gave up this position.[1] 1904 he was hired by the British Museum to research bats in the Pacific, in South-East Asia and in Queensland. He was especially interested in the genus Flying Fox and Horseshoe bats, of which he described 15 new species. He published 13 scientific papers on the South-East Asian Horseshoe bats. His most famous work was his Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the Collection of the British Museum which counts among the most extensive work on flying foxes. In 1918 he mysteriously disappeared, his body has never been found.

Andersen was elected fellow of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in 1909.

Dedicated taxa

Rhinolophus anderseni (1909 by Ángel Cabrera; no longer a valid taxon, the subspecies anderseni and aequalis are today considered synonyms of the species Rhinolophus arcuatus and Rhinolophus acuminatus). Dobsonia anderseni (1914 by Oldfield Thomas), Artibeus anderseni (1916 by Wilfred Hudson Osgood).

Selected publications

Species described by Knud Andersen

References

  1. ↑ Jon Fjeldså: Danske ornitologer langt fra hjemmet: fra P.W. Lund til international fuglebeskyttelse In: 100-års festskrift Dansk Orn. Foren. Tidsskr. 100 (2006):S. 265-275