Professor Dr Gerhard Jurzitza: a short biographical sketch and bibliography

A brief biography and appreciation of the work of Dr G. Jurzitza (born 30 Nov. 1929), Professor Emeritus of the University of Karlsruhe, Charter Member of Societas Internationalis Odonatologica and one of the leading European odonatologists, is followed by his odonatological bibliography (1959-1998; 139 titles). Most of his works are related to the European and South American fauna, mostly in the fields of faunistics, taxonomy, ecology and behaviour. The list of taxa he has introduced in Odonata, and a bibliography of his odon. photographic work are also included. GERHARD JURZITZA, the doyen of German odonatology, was born on 30 November 1929, in Ostrava (formerly Schlesisch-Ostrau), Czechoslovakia, into the family of Franz Jurzitza, a professional accountant, from whom he probably inherited his sense of precision and punctuality and his ability for the utmost careful observation of minute, possibly obscured and hardly perceptible detail – a great asset in a naturalist’s career.