Gustav Tornier

Gustav Tornier (Dombrowken (today Dąbrowa Chełmińska, Poland), 9 May 1858 – Berlin, 25 April 1938) was a German zoologist and herpetologist.

Tornier was born in West Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia. Nothing is known about his youth and adolescence.

He studied at Heidelberg University, from which he received his doctorate (Dr. phil.) in 1892. In 1891 he had already accepted a post as an assistant in the zoological museum of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Berlin. Initially he occupied himself with preparing anatomical specimens, but from 1893 he also worked in the herpetological department. When its curator, Paul Matschie, took over the mammal collection in 1895, Tornier succeeded him. In 1902, he became professor of zoology at the university, whilst later also accepting the post of head librarian at the museum (1903), assistant director of the museum (1921), and finally director ad interim of the museum (1922–1923).

He retired in October 1923 and died in 1938 in Berlin. He was interred in the Luisenfriedhof-III in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Tornier's research interests focused on amphibians and reptiles, developmental anatomy, and systematics. He became the leading authority on the reptilian and amphibian fauna of German East Africa. Tornier's frog, Litoria tornieri, which is an Australian endemic, was named after him, as was a large sauropod dinosaur found around 1910 in the Tendaguru formations of German East Africa, Tornieria africanus (Fraas).

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