Name Johann Schnabl | ||
Johann Andreas Schnabl (1838 – 1912) was born a Pole of German descent, and an entomologist specializing in Diptera. His original name was Jan Sznabla, but later changed it to Johann Andreas Schnabl so that it was much more accessible to people who did not speak Polish. His family moved from Dresden to Warsaw back in the late 18th century (hence the German heritage). Warsaw was the capital of South Prussia at that time.
Trained as a physician, he taught classes in natural history in Warsaw. His wide-ranging travels included scientific trips to the Caucasus, the Urals, Lapland, the Pyrenees, Corsica, Hungary and Peru.
He is the taxonomic author of the family Fanniidae and the genera Spilogona and Paregle. With Heinrich Dziedzicki, he described the genera Polietina, Pegoplata and Villeneuvia.
He is commemorated with the species Mycetophila schnablii (a fungus gnat) and Cheilosia schnabli (a dipteran species) as well as Amorphochilus schnablii, commonly known as the smoky bat, a chiropteran native to western South America.