Carl Adolf Otth

Carl Adolf Otth ( born April 2, 1803 in Bern, † May 16, 1839 in Jerusalem ) was a Swiss physician and naturalist.

In 1822, he studied medicine in Bern, then he took lessons in natural history at Augustin- de Candolle Pyrame and Nicolas Charles Seringe. In 1825 he sat in Kiel and 1826 in Berlin continued his medical studies in 1828 and obtained his doctorate. After a six-month stay in Paris, he returned to his hometown to practice there.

In 1836 he undertook several expeditions nature, first to France in the Dauphiné and Provence, then to the Mediterranean, and in particular the Balearic Islands, and finally he traveled to Algeria. From this trip he brought with him a large collection of newly discovered reptiles, amphibians and insects. Furthermore, he described in 1837 as the first frog genus Discoglossus using the Painted Scheibenzünglers.

1838 published a book with 30 lithographs, who prepared Otth in Algeria. The work bears the title Esquisses africaines, dessinées pendant un voyage 'a Alger et lithographiées par Adolphe Otth ( German "African sketches, drawn while on a trip to Algiers and lithographs by Adolphe Otth ").

In 1839 he made ​​one last trip to the Middle East. In May 1839, he died of the plague in Jerusalem and its collections, manuscripts and drawings were lost. The biological author abbreviation Otth refers to his name.