Rolf Karl Heinz Grantsau (March 25, 1928 Kiel – June 25, 2015) was a German-Brazilian naturalist and illustrator.[1]
Biography
Grantsau was born in 1928 in Kiel, Germany. While graduating in biology, he was a student of Erwin Stresemann. The birds-of-paradise and the hummingbirds were the groups he most appreciated while in Germany, and he eventually came to Brazil in 1962 to study the latter; he also worked on taxonomy of birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, orchids, carnivorous plants, lichens and more, and as a taxidermist. He was also an illustrator, having illustrated his own work (including books) and that of many other researchers.[1]
He was married to Ilse Grantsau, with whom he had two children, Marion Grantsau Engelbrecht, born in Germany, and Ingo Grantsau, born in Brazil.[1]
The following species and subspecies were described by him:
- Augastes scutatus ilseae 1967
- Phaethornis maranhaoensis 1968
- Threnetes loehkeni 1969
- Eupetonema macroura cyanoviridis 1988
- Hylocharis cyanus griseiventris 1988
- Phaethornis ochraceiventris camargoi(= Phaethornis margarettae) 1988
- Phaethornis pretrei minor 1988
- Amazona kawalli 1989 (with Hélio Camargo)
- Charadrius wilsonia brasiliensis 2008 (with P.C. Lima)
- Caprimulgus longirostris pedrolimai 2008
The species Drosera grantsaui (a carnivorous plant), Gnomidolon grantasaui (a beetle) and Formicivora grantsaui (a Thamnophilidae) were named after him.[1]