Edgar Alexander Mearns
Edgar Alexander Mearns ( born September 11, 1856 in Highland Falls, New York, † November 1, 1916 in Washington, DC) was an American ornithologist and naturalist. His botanical author abbreviation is " Mearns ".
Life and work
Mearns was born the son of Alexander and Nancy Reliance Mearns Clarswell. His grandfather Alexander was of Scottish descent, and moved in 1815 to Highland Falls. Edgar Alexander Mearns was educated at Donald Highland Institute in Highland Falls and then studied at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he graduated in 1881. In the same year he married from Circleville, Ohio native Ella Wittich. The couple had a daughter and a son who was born in 1886 and died in 1912. From 1882 to 1899 he served as a military doctor. From 1899 to 1903 he was medical officer in several Army institutions. From 1903 to 1904 and from 1905 to 1907, he traveled to the Philippines. In 1904 he had to stop because of a parasite infection his stay in the Philippines. 1905 led him on an expedition to Guam. In 1909 he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel from the army. Then he accompanied Theodore Roosevelt, with whom he was friends for a Africa Expedition. From 1911 to 1912 he was a second time in Africa.
Mearns 1883 belonged to the founders of the American Ornithologists ' Union. He also had memberships in the National Geographic Society, the Biological Society of Washington and the Linnaean Society of New York.
Mearns wrote about 125 scientific articles and books that dealt mainly biological topics. He also wrote works on medicine, archeology, and biographies.
Among the taxa described by Mearns include Mindanaomaustimalie, the red-headed tailor bird Mindanao Sunbird, the borane cisticola, the sharp-tailed crawler traps that Marianensalangane, the Taita Thrush, the Philippines rats hedgehogs, the antelope hare and rodent genera Tarsomys, Limnomys and Bullimus.
Dedikationsnamen
Mearnsia ( both sailors genus and a Myrtengattung ), the genus of fish Mearnsella, the ghost horror genre Mearnsiana that Braunbürzelsalangane ( Aerodramus mearnsi ), Mearns - pouched rats, Mearns - red squirrels and Lepidopa mearnsi have been named in honor of Edgar Alexander Mearns.