Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger

Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (19 November 1775 – 10 May 1813) was a German entomologist and zoologist.

Illiger was the son of a merchant in Braunschweig. He studied under the entomologist Johann Hellwig, and later worked on the zoological collections of Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg. Illiger was professor and director of the "zoological museum" (which is the Natural History Museum of Berlin in the present day) from its formation in 1810 until his death.^[1][2]

He was the author of Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium^[3] (1811), which was an overhaul of the Linnaean system.^[4][5] It was a major influence on the adoption of the concept of the family. He also edited the Magazin für Insektenkunde,^[6] widely known as "Illiger's Magazine".^[7]

In 1811 he introduced the taxonomic order Proboscidea for elephants, the American mastodon and the woolly mammoth.^[8] He also described the subspecies Odobenus rosmarus divergens, commonly known as the Pacific walrus.^[9] Illiger's macaw (Primolius maracana; Vieillot, 1816) and Illiger's saddle-back tamarin (Leontocebus illigeri (Pucheran, 1845)) commemorate his name.^[10] The botanical genus Illigera (family Hernandiaceae) also bears his name.^[11]