Otto Staudinger ( 1830 - 1900)

Otto Staudinger was a German entomologist and a natural history dealer. He established himself as one of the largest in the world, specialising in the collection and sale of insects to museums, scientific institutions and individuals.

At the age of six or seven, Otto was introduced into entomology by his private tutor Wagner who collected beetles. In the summer of 1843 his father purchased the Rittergut Lübsee near Güstrow where Otto – now under the instruction of his tutor Hermann – began to collect Lepidoptera. In 1849 Staudinger studies medicine at the University of Berlin. In March 1854 he received his Dr. Phil. and by his stage was solely devoted to his interest in entomology. To support his extensive travelling costs, Staudinger founded a business and, with the help of his father-in-law, began to sell parts of his collections. Over the years this grew to be substantial and he began selling some of his extensive collection.  The business grew and in 1879 the Danish-born entomologist Andreas Bang-Haas (1846–1925) entered into the business, married Staudinger’s daughter in 1880 and became co-owner of the firm, now “Staudinger & Bang-Haas”. In 1884 the growing company moved to the larger “Villa Sphinx” and ten years later a two-story wing had to be added. From the mid-1880s onward Staudinger entrusted the company business more and more to Bang-Haas and concentrated on his work in Lepidoptera taxonomy.