Karl Schawerda

Who was Karl Schawerda?

Karl or Carl Schawerda was an Austrian Czech entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.

Karl Schawerda was a physician of Czech origin, a gynecologist and entomologist mainly devoted to researching moths, but also has significant as an author describing some of the new forms of Parnassius apollo Linnaeus, 1758.

His father was a railway engineer. After primary and secondary education he studied medicine at the University of Vienna, After graduation in 1894 a gynecologist for four years at the Krankenhaus St. Anna Kinderhospital in Vienna. Later he worked as a gynecologist and obstetrician in Vienna. In his practice he achieved the rank of "Obermedizinalrat" - "chief medical advisor. He described several new species of moths.His collection of 50,000 specimens is mostly stored in Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. A smaller portion of his collection, mainly Palaearctic species of Microlepidoptera Übersee Museum Bremen in Bremen.