Jørgen Matthias Christian Schiødte (20 April 1815 - 22 April 1884), or Jørgen Christian Matthias Schiødte, was a Danish entomologist, professor and museum curator.[1]
Schiødte was born in Copenhagen and attended Borgerdydskolen in Christianshavn. From 1842, he was employed as curator of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and was a professor at the University of Copenhagen from 1845.[2]
His work was widely read "for, as Schiodte remarks: We accordingly look upon the subterranean faunas as small ramifications which have penetrated into the earth from the geographically limited faunas of the adjacent tracts, and which, as they extended themselves into darkness, have been accommodated to surrounding circumstances. Animals not far remote from ordinary forms, prepare the transition from light to darkness. Next follow those that are constructed for twilight; and, last of all, those destined for total darkness, and whose formation is quite peculiar.' These remarks of Schiodte's it should be understood, apply not to the same, but to distinct species." - Charles Darwin
His best known publications were
In addition, he described numerous species of insects as well as the spider genus Liphistius.