Robert Latzel

Robert Latzel was an Austrian myriapodologist and entomologist who published a series of pioneering works on millipedes, centipedes, and allies. His collection of myriapod specimens, today housed in the Natural History Museum of Vienna, includes many type specimens. His monographs on the myriapods of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were the first comprehensive treatments of the large region's centipede and millipede faunas. He named nearly 130 taxa of millipedes and over 40 centipede groups, as well as four taxa each of pauropods and symphylans. His work on millipedes pioneered the use of gonopods in millipede classification and species recognition. At least three authors have honored Latzel by naming a genus Latzelia.