Maria Sibylla Merian
Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 164713 January 1717) was a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family. Merian was one of the first naturalists to observe insects directly.
Maria Sibylla Merian
The universal classification system for all organisms was started by Carl Linnaeus about 30 years after Merian had published her research on Suriname. It is organised in five levels of kingdom, class, order, genus and species. After her death Merian became so renowned among biologists that number of taxa, and two genera, were named after her. Two butterflies have been named after her, the common postman butterfly "Heliconius melpomene meriana" and a split-banded owlet butterfly "Opsiphanes cassina merianae". The Cuban sphinx moth has been named "Erinnyis merianae". A bug with no common name has been named "Plisthenes merianae". A genus of mantises has been named "Sibylla".