Robert Mertens

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Robert Friedrich Wilhelm Mertens (December 1, 1894 – August 23, 1975) was a German scientist who specialized in reptiles and amphibians. He helped define Mertensian mimicry and had many species named after him.

Mertens was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and moved to Germany in 1912. He earned a doctorate in zoology from the University of Leipzig in 1915 and served in the German army during World War I. He spent most of his career at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, starting as an assistant in 1919 and retiring as director emeritus in 1960. He also taught at Goethe University Frankfurt, becoming a professor there in 1939. His work allowed him to travel widely to study lizards, collecting specimens in about 30 countries.

In World War II he helped protect and relocate collections, with soldiers overseas helping him gather specimens. He wrote several books on zoology, including La Vie des Amphibiens et Reptiles (1959). Mertens described at least 64 reptile species and many amphibians.

Nine reptile species and two subspecies were named after him, including Amblyrhynchus cristatus mertensi, Amphisbaena roberti, Chalcides mertensi, Cryptoblepharus mertensi, Erythrolamprus mertensi, Liolaemus robertmertensi, Micrurus mertensi, Phalotris mertensi, Phelsuma robertmertensi, Tropidoclonion lineatum mertensi, and Varanus mertensi. A fish, Vanderhorstia mertensi, is also named in his honor.

Mertens died after being bitten by his pet savanna twigsnake, Thelotornis capensis. There was no antivenom available, and he suffered for 18 days before dying. He kept a diary of his decline, noting that this was “the only appropriate end for a herpetologist.” His death echoed that of another famous herpetologist, Karl Patterson Schmidt, who died about 20 years earlier after a similar bite and careful symptom recording.