Konstantin Davydov

Constantine Dawydoff (December 18, 1877 - June 21, 1960) was a French zoologist and embryologist who is known for his work on a variety of invertebrates, arthropods , and comparative embryology.

Constantine (Nicknamed Kostya) was born in the Russian Empire in 1877 to parents Nikolai Konstantinovich Davydov and Lidia Stefanovna Lyubomirova. As a child, he spent his time hunting and birdwatching with his father, leading to him developing an interest in ornithology. Dawydoff spent his teenage years studying the birds of Tver, leading him to study in the natural sciences after graduating high school . In the winter of 1899, Dawydoff was expelled and imprisoned for support of a student protest, but was shortly freed and reinstated by the intercession of his professor Vladimir T. Shevyakov. The following year, Dawydoff submitted a study on echinoderm regeneration to a university student competition, winning 1st place . Dawydoff graduated with a first degree diploma in 1901.

In 1902, Dawydoff was set to travel to Java with Kovalevsky, but his death in November of 1901 led him to lead the 10 month expedition by himself. Dawydoff worked in Beitenzorg Botanical Garden, aswell as other islands throughout Indonesia and Singapore. During his time there, he studied marine life including plankton, learned to speak Malay, and living in the tropical forests and worked as a zoologist in France and Mainland Southeast Asia for several decades and was elected a corresponding member for the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1949 .

Constantine's extensive work on marine invertebrates and embryology has led to him being the namesake of at least five species: Scolopendra dawydoffi , Strophidon dawydoffi, Anopsobius dawydoffi, Hormiops davidovi and Discosoma dawydoffi.

Scolopendra dawydoffi, a species of centipede named after C. Dawydoff.