Carlos Berg, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Carlos Berg

Latvian entomologist

Date of Birth: 02-Apr-1843

Place of Birth: Tukums, Tukums Municipality, Latvia

Date of Death: 19-Jan-1902

Profession: naturalist, writer, zoologist, lepidopterist, entomologist

Nationality: Latvia, Argentina

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Carlos Berg (Latvian: Karlis Bergs, German: Karl Berg) or Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg (Latvian: Fridrihs Vilhelms Karlis Bergs, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg) (21 March 1843, Courland – 19 January 1902 Buenos Aires) was an Argentinian naturalist and entomologist of Latvian and Baltic German origin. Having worked a few years in trade, he moved to Riga in 1865 and became curator of the entomological department of the Riga Museum, and then at the Riga Technical University. In 1873, he was invited by Hermann Burmeister (1807–1892), director of the Museum of Buenos Aires, to join him in Argentina.
As early as 1874, Berg began an expedition to Patagonia to collect specimens for the museum.
This first collecting trip was followed by others through Argentina, also in Chile and Uruguay. Apart from a period of two years from 1890 to 1892, spent at the Museo Nacional in Montevideo, he was based in Buenos Aires.
He replaced Burmeister as the head of the museum in 1892. His first specialty was entomology, but he was also dedicated to paleontology and the study of vertebrates.
Amongst his many other achievements, he described Cactoblastis cactorum, the cactus moth. Berg was a fellow of the Entomological Society of London and a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London.