Carl Johan Schönherr

Who was Carl Johan Schönherr?

Carl Johan Schönherr was a Swedish entomologist who revised the taxonomy of beetles, including weevils.

Born in Stockholm, Schönherr was son of a German immigrant who had established himself as a silk manufacturer. At the age of nineteen, he took over the business together with his mother and developed it into a considerable size, with about 200 workers. In 1805, he entered partnership with Erik Lundgren, and in 1811 he sold the business to him, while retiring to his manor Sparresäter in Lerdala outside Skara in Västergötland, where he died in 1848.

Schönherr had taken an interest in entomology since the age of twelve and was later further stimulated through his friendship with Gustaf Johan Billberg, his brother-in-law from his second marriage.

He was an eminent coleopterist co-operating with Carl Henrik Boheman and Leonard Gyllenhaal. Schönherr wrote Genera et species curculionidum, cum synonymia hujus familiae,specie novae aut hactenus minus cognitae, descriptionibus a dom. Leonardo Gyllenhal, C. H. Boheman; et entomologis aliis illustratae. Paris, Roret. in which many new species were described.

Schönherr was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1809.