Joel Asaph Allen
Joel Asaph Allen ( born July 19, 1838 in Springfield, Massachusetts, † August 29 1921 in Cornwall -on-Hudson, New York) was an American zoologist with a focus on mammals ( mammalogy ) and bird watching ( ornithology).
Life and work
Allen graduated from Wilbraham Academy in Springfield and later at Harvard University under Louis Agassiz. With this, he traveled to Brazil in 1865. From 1867 to 1885 he was curator of birds and mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In 1921, he also died in New York.
Allen was one of the leading taxonomists and ornithologists of the United States and was instrumental in the development and justification of the rules of nomenclature of zoology. He also dealt with the influence of ecological factors on the anatomy of animals and introduced his namesake Allensche control for the influence of climate on the length of the beak and wings in birds. It says that at homoiothermen ( warm-blooded ) organisms, the relative length of exposed body parts ( limbs, tails, ears) in cold climates is lower than in related species and sub-species in warmer areas.
Writings
- Elliott Coues: Monographs of North American Rodentia. 1877 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.16063 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.38255
- History of North American pinnipeds: a monograph of the walruses, sea- lions, sea- bears and seals of North America. 1880 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.23136 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.1921 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.19629