Otto Kraus 1930–2017

Professor Dr Otto Kraus, distinguished authority on zoological systematics, particularly of arachnids and myriapods, died on 24 October 2017, at the age of 87. Professor Kraus was born in Frankfurt am Main on 17 May 1930. His involvement in zoology began during his studies at the University of Frankfurt in the 1950s. He volunteered at the Senckenberg Museum, where he learnt a great deal about systematics and collections. So, after obtaining his PhD (on spiders and myriapods from El Salvador: Kraus 1954, 1955), he gained employment at that institution, in its newly established Arachnology Section (Grasshoff & Jäger 2005). From 1963 to 1969 he headed the section for invertebrates at the Senckenberg Museum and received his habilitation in zoology in 1965 on the biogeography of Myriapoda. In 1969, Professor Kraus moved to Hamburg to take up the position of director of the Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg (he became emeritus in 1995), in which city he remained for the rest of his life. As well as his museum work, Professor Kraus taught a wide range of course in zoology, including biodiversity, systematics, evolution, and biogeography, with an emphasis, of course, on arthropods. He became a prominent figure in the organization and dissemination of knowledge in zoology. For example, he edited the journals of the Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein in Hamburg (now in its 180th year), and was its president from 1970 to 1974. He used the journals to publish the proceedings of numerous conferences, many of which he organized. For example, the 3rd International Congress on Myriapodology was held in Hamburg in 1975 and its papers were published in Abhandlungen und Verhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg. The 20th Phylogenetische Symposion, held in Hamburg in 1975 (theme: Co-evolution), was published as a special volume (Sonderband) of the society (Zwölfer & Kraus 1978), the 21st Phylogenetische Symposion in Göttingen 1976 (theme: Phylogeny of Arthropods) was published in the Abhandlungen (Kraus 1980), and Zoologische Systematik in Mitteleuropa was published as a Sonderband (Kraus 1976). Kraus was three times president of the Joachim-Jungius-Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Hamburg: 1978–1982, 1996–1997, and 1998–1999. Professor Kraus served as a commissioner 1963–1995 and as president 1989–1995 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), after which he served as a trustee of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. During his time at ICZN, he oversaw the 4th edition of the Code (ICZN 1999), and was the driving force behind translating it into German (Kraus 2000). Otto Kraus was involved in the organization of European arachnology from its beginnings. Following an initial meeting of arachnologists at the German Zoological Society in Bonn in 1960, a second meeting was organized by Otto Kraus in Saarbrücken in 1961, which attracted arachnologists from nearby France and other countries. Following a meeting between Otto Kraus and Max Vachon in Frankfurt in 1964 (see picture), the third meeting of this burgeoning society was also organized by Kraus, in Frankfurt in 1965, under the title III. Kongreß Europäischer Arachnologen. At that meeting, Professor Kraus was elected President of the newly formed Centre International de Documentation Arachnologique and served for three years. From these beginnings, the International Society of Arachnology eventually arose (read the full history in Kraus 1999). Professor Kraus has been honoured by a number of organizations, including nomination as a corresponding member of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung in 1970. He was made an honorary member of the British Arachnological Society on the occasion of its 40th Anniversary Meeting at Flatford Mill in 1999 (Dalingwater 1999). In 2001 he became an honorary member of the International Society of Arachnology at its 15th Congress in Badplaas, South Africa. In 2006 he was appointed to the Akademie Gemeinnütziger Wissenschaften zu Erfurt, and was awarded the Ehrenbrief by that society in 2011. In 2010 he became an honorary member of the Arachnologische Gesellschaft. He was also an honorary member of