Victor Motschulsky

Russian entomologist

Victor Ivanovich Motschulsky (sometimes Victor von Motschulsky, Russian: ?????? ???????? ??????????, 11 April 1810, in St.Petersburg – 5 June 1871, in Simferopol) was a Russian entomologist mainly interested in beetles.

Motschulsky was an Imperial Army colonel who undertook extended trips abroad.He studied and described many new beetles from Siberia, Alaska, the United States, Europe, and Asia.

While he tended to ignore previous work and his own work on classification was of poor quality, Motschulsky made a massive contribution to entomology, exploring hitherto unworked regions, often in very difficult terrain.

He described many new genera and species, a high proportion of which remain valid.