Carlos Berg

Carlos Berg (, ) or Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Berg (, ) ( 1843 – 19 January 1902) was an Argentine naturalist and entomologist of Latvian and Baltic German origin.

Early life Berg was born on 1902 in Tukums, Courland.

Career 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.

Works

1875: Lepidópteros patagónicos. Observados en el viage de 1874 Acta Acad. Nac. Cordova, 1 (4): 63-102, (7): 155-158 Suplemento a la descripción de los lepidópteros patagónicos 1875: Patagonische Lepidopteren beobachtet auf einer Reise im Jahre 1874 Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou 49 (4) : 191-247 1879: Hemiptera argentina enumeravit speciesque novas descripsit Carolus Berg Bonariae, ex typographiae P.E. Coni 1877: Contribución al estudio de la fauna entomológica de Patagonia An. Soc. Cient. Argent. 4 (2): 87-102, : 199-211 1877: Beiträge zu den Lepidoptoren Patagoniens Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou 52 (3) : 1-22 1877: Estudios Lepidopterológicus acerce de la fauna Argentina y oriental An. Soc. cient. Argent. 3 : 228-242, pl. 1877: Descriptions de deux nouveaux Lépidoptères de la famille des Arctiadae Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (5) 7 : 189-194 1880: Observaciones acerca de la Familia Hyponomeutidae. Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina. 1880;10:99–109. 1885: Lepidoptera Nova, Faunae reipublicae Argentinae et Uruguayensis An. Soc. cient. argent. 19 : 266-285 1889 : Substitucion de nombres genericos. III. Comm. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, 1 : 77-80. 1896 : Batraccios Argentinos. 1898 : Contribuciones... Fauna Erpetologica Argentina.