Quick Facts
Biography
Carlos Berg (Latvian: Kārlis Bergs, German: Karl Berg) or Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg (Latvian: Frīdrihs Vilhelms Kārlis Bergs, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg) (21 March 1843, Courland – 19 January 1902 Buenos Aires ) was an Argentinian naturalist and entomologist of Latvian and Baltic German origin. Having worked a few years in trade, he moved to Riga in 1865 and became curator of the Entomological Department of the Riga Museum, and then at the Riga Technical University.
In 1873, he was invited by Hermann Burmeister (1807-1892), Director of the Museum of Buenos Aires, to join him in Argentina. As early as 1874, Berg began an expedition to Patagonia to collect specimens for the Museum. This first collecting trip was followed by others through Argentina, also in Chile and Uruguay.
Apart from a period two years from 1890 to 1892, spent at the Museo Nacional in Montevideo, he was based in Buenos Aires. He replaced Burmeister as the head of the Museum in 1892.
His first specialty was entomology, but he was also dedicated to paleontology and the study of vertebrates. Amongst his many other achievements, he described Cactoblastis cactorum, the cactus moth.
Berg was a Fellow of the Entomological Society of London and a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London.
Works
partial list
- 1875 Lepidópteros patagónicos. Observados en el viage de 1874 Acta Acad. Nac. Cordova, 1 (4): 63-102, (7): 155-158 Suplemento a la descripción de los lepidópteros patagónicos
- 1875 Patagonische Lepidopteren beobachtet auf einer Reise im Jahre 1874 Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou 49 (4) : 191-247
- 1879: Hemiptera argentina enumeravit speciesque novas descripsit Carolus Berg Bonariae,ex typographiae P.E. Coni
- 1877 Contribución al estudio de la fauna entomológica de Patagonia An. Soc. Cient. Argent. 4 (2): 87-102, : 199-211
- 1877 Beiträge zu den Lepidoptoren Patagoniens Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou 52 (3) : 1-22
- 1877 Estudios Lepidopterológicus acerce de la fauna Argentina y oriental An. Soc. cient. Argent. 3 : 228-242, pl. [1]
- 1877 Descriptions de deux nouveaux Lépidoptères de la famille des Arctiadae Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5) 7 : 189-194
- 1880 :Observaciones acerca de la Familia Hyponomeutidae. Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina. 1880;10:99–109.
- 1885: Lepidoptera Nova, Faunae reipublicae Argentinae et Uruguayensis An. Soc. cient. argent. 19 : 266-285
- 1889 : Substitucion de nombres genericos. III. Comm. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, 1 : 77-80.
- 1896 : Batraccios Argentinos.
- 1898 : Contribuciones... Fauna Erpetologica Argentina.