Walter Heinz was born on August 8, 1925 in Ludwigshafen. He spent his childhood in Frankfurt am Main, where he went to the Holzhausenschule primary school from 1931 and to the KaiserWilhelmGymnasium from 1935, obtaining his final diploma (Abitur) in 1942. Already in these younger years he was fascinated by entomology, started collecting Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, and regularly visited the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt. In his leisure time he joined a civil gliding group, receiving his pilot's license. From 1943, during the Second World War, Walter was a transport pilot in the air force. His first entomological collections, kept in the home of his parents, were destroyed during that time.
From November 1945 he studied at the Technical University of Darmstadt, with a focus on construction and statics, and received his engineering diploma in 1950. After that, he joined an engineering company in Mainz and later managed its branch in Mannheim. Walter married Ortrud Göpelt (*June 1935) in 1953. Together they built a house in Wilhelmsfeld, near Heidelberg, and about ten years later they built a larger one in WaldMichelbach (Odenwald). They had six children: Ulrich (*1955), Ursula (*1957), Hannelore (*1959), Dietrich (*1961), Gisela (*1964) and Gudrun (*1972). Walter loved classical music and learned the piano already during his school years; all of his children received an education with musical instruments, and the sounds of a flute, violin, guitar or piano could always be heard from the various rooms of the house. In 1994, once their children had all left home, the couple decided to move into a smaller house in Schwanfeld, near Schweinfurt.
Walter Heinz collected beetles outside of Europe for the first time in 1971, when he drove to Turkey with the whole family. In the following years they reached also Iran by car, with a focus on Carabus Linnaeus. In 1979 came his first travels by plane, to the Himalayas of northern Pakistan, with his indestructible wife, and from 1990 to Mexico, to collect Calosoma Weber. In the winter of 1996/1997 they travelled for the first time to Africa (Kenya, South Africa) to hunt species of Anthia Weber. The first visit by the Heinz couple to Argentina and Chile, in search of Ceroglossus Solier, was conducted in 1998. On all these travels, Walter drove rental cars over long distances and on difficult routes, whereas Ortrud has no driver's license. The last travels led Walter and Ortrud to Georgia in the Caucasus, in the summers of 2018 and 2019, where they travelled with local driver and guide Nika (known also to other entomologists). By that time, Walter was already 94 years old, Ortrud 84, and they had collected beetles for almost 70 years. In several publications, Ortrud offered vivid recollections of their joint travel adventures (see Publications of Ortrud Heinz, below).
Walter's favourite collecting method was to set ground traps with a mixture of red wine and vinegar, always with the indefatigable support of his wife. Unfortunately, the pair did not practise sifting. They collected not only Carabidae but also several other insect and arachnid groups, for example Opiliones. He presented them to other scientists, not only in the hope of getting carabids in exchange, but to generously support other colleagues. So the present author regularly received the collected Tenebrionidae.
Walter had never studied biology, but he attended some zoology lectures at university in Frankfurt. He had an extensive knowledge of biological relations and ecological features. Before every travel he searched on maps and in other files for isolated forest remnants and other interesting habitats, for example in Turkey as well as in Chile, where he hoped to find particular taxa. He also tried to collect at the type localities of particular carabids. And he bought a strong and large vehicle (a modified Unimog) at the beginning of his collecting activities, to reach remote and offroad habitats together with his family. After persistent and courageous fighting with local authorities, Walter even reached restricted areas in northern Pakistan or in Nagorny Karabach in the Caucasus. We once spoke about a visit to St. Helena, a remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean with a highly endemic fauna and flora. The island can be reached by ship from South Africa, but the connection is quite insecure and dependent on weather conditions. In the end, Walter renounced this plan, because the risk of staying stuck for weeks on St. Helena was too high.
The author first met Walter Heinz and his wife Ortrud in 1978 during the German Coleoptera Meeting in Ludwigsburg and then regularly at these annual meetings, now held in Beutelsbach. Their last presence at the Beutelsbach meeting was in 2019. The meeting was cancelled the following two years because of COVID19 restrictions. After our first meeting, I immediately recognised the couple as highly engaged coleopterists and tough collectors. I visited them for the first time in their home in Wald-Michelbach 1984, and admired their collection. Subsequently, I enjoyed their hospitality several times in Schwanfeld, when organising the transfer of their collection to the natural history museum in Stuttgart.
The outstanding carabid collection of Walter Heinz is arranged in 220 large and 400 small drawers, and contains about 150,000 specimens, all accurately prepared and labelled and sorted both systematically and geographically. The collection was transferred to the Staatliches Museum in Stuttgart in 2007–2010 in four parts, with the support of funds from the “Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Naturkundemuseums”. Subsequently, Heinz delivered several additional drawers and unprepared material as an “addendum”, which consisted not only of Carabidae. Duplicates were also delivered to the natural history museum of Erfurt, Germany. The collection contains all groups of Carabidae from the world over, with only the cavernicolous Trechinae less represented. Heinz loaned his newly collected specimens to international taxonomists for study and publication; therefore, the collection is full of the type material of taxa described several authors, besides that resulting from his own studies (see Publications of Walter Heinz, below). And he always engaged with others to enlarge the collection through exchanges. Even in his last few years, when he was no longer able to travel, Walter established new contacts with coleopterologists for the exchange of carabids from Central Asia.
Walter and Ortrud were passionate travellers interested not only in beetles but also in history, geography, languages and the general ways of life in the visited countries. In particular, Walter studied the origin of the Farsi, Turkish and Arabic languages, supported by his daughter Ursula, who married in Iran. Besides collection work, Walter also spent a lot of time reading the entomological literature. He preferred a simple life and was as much as possible a selfsupplier. Until recently the couple cultivated vegetables in their garden, and in their earlier years in WaldMichelbach they even kept sheep. In winter the heating was kept low, and during travels they prepared simple meals for themselves, avoiding restaurants. He was always hard on himself, at home and on his travels, but sometimes also on others.
In the final weeks of last year, Walter's heart lost its power bit by bit and he died peacefully after a fulfilled life of 97 years on January 3, 2023, with his wife by his side in their Schwanfeld house. Walter leaves behind not only his wife Ortrud and their large family, but also a large international community of coleopterists. His carabid collection remains as his monument.
List of collecting travels of Ortrud and Walter Heinz
1952–1970 France, Pyrenees, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Canary Islands (multiple times)
Spring 1971 Macedonia, Greece
Summer 1971 Bulgaria, southern Turkey
Spring 1972 Macedonia, Greece
Summer 1972 Northern and northeastern Turkey, Iran
Spring 1973 Central and southern Turkey
Summer 1973 Macedonia, northern and northeastern Turkey, Bulgaria
Spring 1974 Northern and central Turkey
Summer 1974 Southern and southeastern Turkey
Summer 1975 Turkey, Iran
Spring 1976 Greece, Turkey
Summer 1976 Greece, Turkey, Iran
Spring 1977 Greece, Turkey
Spring 1978 Macedonia, western and central Turkey, Syria
Summer 1978 Macedonia, northern and northeastern Turkey
Winter 1979 Gran Canaria
Spring 1979 Greece, northern Turkey
Summer 1979 Pakistan (Himalaya)
Spring 1980 Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Syria
Summer 1980 Kashmir (Himalayas)
Autumn 1980 Austria (Styria), Slovenia, Croatia
Spring 1981 Greece, western and eastern Turkey
Summer 1981 Pakistan (Himalayas)
Autumn 1981 Austria (Styria, Carinthia), Slovenia
Spring 1982 Turkey, Syria
Summer 1982 Pakistan (Dir, Chitral)
Autumn 1982 Eastern Alps
Spring 1983 Turkey
Summer 1983 Northeastern Turkey
Autumn 1983 Alps (Austria, Italy, Switzerland)
Spring 1984 Greece (islands), Turkey
Summer 1984 Northern and northeastern Turkey
Autumn 1984 Alps (Italy, Switzerland)
Spring 1985 Israel
Summer 1985 Greece, northeastern Turkey
Autumn 1985 Alps (Switzerland, France)
Winter 1985 Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria
Spring 1986 Turkey
Summer 1986 Northern and northeastern Poland; Pakistan and India (Himalayas)
Autumn 1986 France (Alps, Massif Central), Austria
Winter 1986/1987 Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, La Palma
Spring 1987 Israel
Summer 1987 Turkey
Autumn 1987 Alps (Switzerland, France)
Winter 1987 Southern Spain, Morocco
Spring 1988 Turkey, Syria
Summer 1988 Pakistan (Kashmir)
Spring 1989 Turkey
Summer 1989 India, Pakistan (Kashmir)
Spring 1990 Greece, Turkey
Summer 1990 USA (Arizona), Mexico
Spring 1991 Sicily,NorthAfrica(Tunisia,Algeria,Morocco), southern and northern Spain
Summer 1991 Mexico
Spring 1992 South Italy, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria
Summer 1992 Turkey, Bulgaria
Spring 1993 Greece, Albania, Bulgaria
Summer 1993 China (Tibet, Gansu)
Summer 1994 China (Gansu, Sichuan)
Spring 1995 Israel
Summer 1995 China (Sichuan, Tibet)
Winter 1996 Kenya
Spring 1996 Turkey, Iran, Greece
Summer 1996 China (Sichuan, Tibet)
Autumn 1996 France (Chartreuse)
Spring 1997 Lebanon
Summer 1997 Pakistan (Azad Kashmir, Gilgit)
Autumn 1997 France (western Alps)
Winter 1997/1998 South Africa, Namibia
Spring1998 Jordan
Summer 1998 Turkey, Iran, Greece
Winter 1998/1999 Chile, Argentina
Spring 1999 Lebanon
Summer 1999 Iran
Autumn 1999 Western Alps (Switzerland, France)
Winter 1999/2000 Chile
Spring 2000 Hungary
Summer 2000 Mexico
Winter 2001 Chile
Summer 2001 Pakistan (Chitral, Dir)
Winter 2001 South Africa, Botswana, Namibia
Summer 2002 USA (Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, California)
Winter 2003 Namibia, South Africa
Summer 2003 Pakistan (Himalayas)
Autumn 2003 Lebanon
Winter 2004 Malawi
Summer 2004 Greece; India (Kashmir)
Autumn 2004 Syria
Winter 2005 Bolivia, Chile
Summer 2005 Greece, Turkey, Italy (Tuscany)
Winter 2005 Morocco
Spring 2006 Iran
Summer 2006 Slovakia, Ukraine
Winter 2006/2007 Chile, Argentina
Summer 2007 China (Sichuan)
Winter 2008 Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa
Summer 2008 Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Poland
Winter 2008/2009 Chile, Argentina, Tierra del Fuego
Summer 2009 Mexico
Winter 2009/2010 Namibia, South Africa
Summer 2010 Mexico
Summer 2011 Mexico
Winter 2012 Namibia, South Africa, Botswana
Summer 2012 Mexico
Summer 2013 Georgia
Winter 2014 South Africa, Namibia
Spring 2014 Iran (Kordestan, Ilam, Azarbaijan)
Spring 2015 South Africa, Zambia
Summer 2015 Armenia
Summer 2016 Georgia
Spring 2017 Crete
Summer 2017 Armenia, Georgia
Winter 2017/2018 Namibia, South Africa
Summer 2018 Georgia
Summer 2019 Georgia
Taxa dedicated to Walter and/or Ortrud Heinz
Cicindela ismenia walterheinzi Franzen – Carabus heinzi Breuning – Ceroglossus darwini heinzi Jaffrézic & Rataj – Ceroglossus magellanicus ortrudheinzae Heinz & Jiroux – Nebria heinzi Jedlička – Nebria pharina walteriana Ledoux & Roux – Leistus heinzi Farkač – Bembidion heinzi Korge – Trechus heinzi Pawlowski – Duvalius heinzi Casale & Giachino – Deltomerus heinzi Zamotajlov – Amara walterheinzi Hieke – Zabrus heinzi Jedlička – Amolopsa heinzi Straneo –Pterostichus (Haplomaseus) heinzi Jedlička – Pterostichus sousae heinzi Kirschenhofer – Tapinopterus heinzi Straneo – Calathus heinzi Jedlička – Sphodropsis heinzi Casale – Laemosthenus heinzi Casale – Ophonus heinzi Wrase – Bradycellus heinzi Jäger – Cymindis (Tarulus) heinzi Jedlička – Otiorhynchus heinzianus Braun – Otiorhynchus heinzi Smreczynski – Otiorhynchus heinzorum Braun – Otiorhynchus ortrudheinzi Braun – Sphingorhinotus ortrudheinzae Braun – Lathrotiorhynchus heinzi Braun – Chilotrogus heinzi Keith – Panotrogus heinzi Keith – Cerambyx heinzianus Demelt – Mallosia heinzorum Holzschuh – Dorcadion heinzi Breuning – Dorcadion heinzorum Braun – Dorcadion walteri Holzschuh – Dorcadion ortrudae Braun – Dorcadion ortrudheinzae Danilevsky – Pakapsidia heinzi Wittmer – Ocypus heinzi Smetana – Lathrobium heinzi Korge – Heinzia variabilis Korge – Quedius walteri Korge – Quedius heinzi Korge – Quedius ortrudae Korge – Scopaeus heinzi Korge – Stenus heinzianus Puthz – Dianous heinzi Korge – Laena heinzi Schawaller – Rybinskiella heinzi Frank – Apteroloma heinzi Schawaller – Smaragdina viridana heinzi Erber & Medvedev – Labidostomis heinzi Lopatin – Tenthredo heinzi Muche – Aeolothrips heinzi zur Strassen – Kashmirobroscus ortrudae Schmidt, Wrase & Skiacy.
Acknowledgements
Ortrud Heinz kindly supplied various information. I also thank Jörg Gebert (Dresden) and Dr. Peer Schnitter (Halle) for some hints. Daniel Whitmore (Stuttgart) improved the English.
© Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
Appendices
Publications of Walter Heinz
HeinZ, W. (1964): Kleine Mitteilungen Nr. 1772. Zur Faunistik der Carabidae. – Entomologische Blätter 60: 136–137.
Heinz, W. & Korge, H. (1964): Cychrus und Carabus-Funde in den Pontischen Gebirgen Kleinasiens. – Reichenbachia 3: 227–236.
Heinz, W. (1965a): Kleine Mitteilungen. 1788. Platynus (Anchodemus) cyaneus Dej. ssp. asturicus n. ssp. – Entomologische Blätter 61: 123.
Heinz, W.(1965b): Käferfunde in Kleinasien (Coleoptera, Carabidae). – Reichenbachia 6: 15–23.
Heinz, W. & Korge, H. (1967): Über CarabusArten Anatoliens. – Entomologische Blätter 63: 87–105.
Heinz, w. (1970a): Beiträge zur Fauna des Iran und Anatoliens. Neue und wenig bekannte CalathusArten (Col. Carabidae). – Entomologische Arbeiten aus dem Museum G. Frey 21: 288–295.
Heinz, W. (1970b): Über Carabini Anatoliens und Persiens. – Entomologische Abhandlungen und Berichte aus dem Staatlichen Museum für Tierkunde in Dresden 36: 361–375.
Heinz, W. (1971): Eine neue Art der Gattung Synuchidius Apfelbeck (Col. Carabidae). – Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen 20: 76–78.
Heinz, W.(1973): Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Fauna des Iran und Anatoliens. Neue und systematisch neubewertete CarabusArten (Col., Carabidae) sowie Bemerkungen zur Verbreitung wenig bekannter Arten. – Entomologische Blätter 69: 14–36.
Heinz, W. (1975a): Über CarabusArten aus Anatolien und Iran, mit Beschreibung einer neuen Art aus dem Subgenus Pachystus (Col., Cerambycidae [sic!]). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 85: 144–147.
Heinz, W. (1975b): Über Carabus (Sphodistrocarabus) Arten aus der Osttürkei, mit Bescheibung einer neuen Art dieses Subgenus (Col., Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 85: 196–204.
Heinz, W. (1976): Über eine neue Unterart des Carabus (Heterocarabus) muchei aus dem westlichen Pontus (Col. Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 86: 65–68.
Heinz, W. (1977a): Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Verbreitung des Subgenus Oreoplatysma der Gattung Pterostichus im östlichen Pontus, mit Beschreibung einer neuen Art (Col., Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 87: 108–111.
Heinz, W. (1977b): Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Gattung Carabus L. (Col. Carabidae). Die Verbreitung der Untergattung Archicarabus in der Süd und Osttürkei mit Beschreibung einer neuen Subspezies. – Koleopterologische Rundschau 53: 9–13.
Heinz, W. (1977c): Beitrag zur Kenntnis der südanatolischen Carabus Arten aus dem Subgenus Procrustes Bon. (Coleoptera, Carabidae). – Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen 26: 33–38.
Heinz, W. (1978a): Beschreibung einer Subspezies des Carabus (s. str.) sculpturatus Ménétries 1832 (Col.: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 88: 121–123.
Heinz, W.(1978b): Nomenklatorische Korrekturen einiger neuerer Taxa der Gattung Carabus L. (Coleoptera, Carabidae). – Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen 27: 75–79.
Heinz, W. & Blumenthal, C. L. (1978): Versuch einer systematischen Neugliederung der mit Carabus (Lamprostus) torosus Friv. und spinolai Crist. et Jan verwandten Formen. (Col. Carabidae). – Stuttgarter Beiträge Naturkunde, Serie A (Biologie) 315: 1–31.
Heinz, W.(1980): Richtigstellung zu der “Berichtigung” von Karl Mandl. – Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen 29: 15–16.
Heinz, W. (1982): Beitrag zur Klärung der mit baudii Fiori verwandten AcinopusArten Süditaliens und Griechenlands (Col. Carabidae). – Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen 31: 12–16.
Heinz, W.Heinz, W. (1983): Zur Kenntnis der Verbreitung der Untergattung Chaetomelas der Gattung Carabus L. (Col.: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 93: 119–122.
Blumenthal, C. L. & Heinz, W. (1984): Zum Gedenken an Stephan von Breuning. – Entomologische Zeitschrift 94: 32.
Heinz, W.(1985): Falsche Fundortangaben und ihre Folgen. – Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Entomologen 34: 142–143.
Shilenkov, V. G. & Heinz, W. (1988): Eine neue Nebria (Epinebriola)Art aus Chitral (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 98: 65–68.
Heinz, W. & Ledoux, G.(1989): Une espèce et deux sousespèces nouvelles de Nebria, sousgenre Epinebriola. Une espèce nouvelle de Deltomerus du Pakistan (Coleoptera, Nebriidae, Trechidae). – Nouvelle Revue d'Entomologie (NS) 6: 265–273.
Heinz, W. & Staven, K.(1989): Geographische und systematische Studien an den Arten der LipasterGruppe der Gattung Carabus L. (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 99: 33–40, 49–55.
Heinz, W. & Staven, K. (1995): Eine neue Unterart des Carabus gordius aus NordostAnatolien, Türkei. – Coleoptera 13: 13–18.
Heinz, W. (1997): Neue CarabusArten aus China und Tibet (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 107: 209–216.
Heinz, W. & Staven, K. (1998): Neue Erkenntnisse an Carabus (Imaibius)Arten aus dem pakistanischen Himalaya (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 108: 261–266.
Staven, K. & Heinz, W. (1998): Über Carabus (Tribax) puschkini Adam 1817 in der NordostTürkei (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 108: 398–411.
Zamotajlov, A. S. & Heinz, W. (1998): A new species of the genus Parapenetretus Kurnakov 1960 from China (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Patrobinae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 108: 39–41.
Heinz, W. & Staven, K. (2000): Beschreibung einer neuen Subspezies von Carabus (Lamprostus) syrus Roeschke, 1898, aus Jordanien und Bemerkungen zur Nomenklatur und Verbreitung der Carabus (Chaetomelas)Arten des Nahen Ostens (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 110: 147–151.
Heinz, W. & Jiroux, É. (2001): Contribution à la connaissance du genre Ceroglossus Solier IV (Coleoptera, Carabidae). – Cahiers Magellanes 4: 14 pp.
Heinz, W. (2002a): Bemerkungen zur Verbreitung von Leistus montanus in Deutschland (Col., Carabidae). – Mitteilungen des Entomologischen Vereins Stuttgart 37: 64.
Heinz, W. (2002b): Beschreibung einer neuen Carabus (Lamprostus)Art aus Persien (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Zoology in the Middle East 26: 151–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2002.10637930
Franzen, M. & Heinz, W. (2005): Morphology, genitalia, and natural history notes on the enigmatic tiger beetle, Mantica horni Kolbe, 1896 (Coleoptera, Cicindelidae). – Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 53: 297–301.
Jiroux, É. & Heinz, W. (2010): Contribution à la connaissance du genre Ceroglossus Solier (6e note): description d'une nouvelle sousespèce de Ceroglossus magellanicus d'Argentine (Coleoptera, Carabidae). – Cahiers Magellanes 33: 4 pp.
(2011): Revision of the Mexican subgenus Carabomimus Kolbe, 1895 (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Calosoma Weber, 1801): C. depressicolle, C. flohri and C. digueti species groups. – Zootaxa 2908 (1): 45–63. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2908.1.2
Schüle, P. c Heinz, W. (2013): Two new species of Anthiini from Southern Africa (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 23: 169–172.
Publications of Ortrud Heinz
Heinz, O. 1979a): Im SavalanGebirge (Iran, Azarbaijan). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 89: 153–157.
Heinz, O. (1979b): Otingo – oder die Jagd auf Sphodristocarabus sovitzi (Col.: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 89: 197–200, 207–208.
Heinz, O. (1987): Im TangirTal (GilgitAgency). Tagebuchauszüge einer Sammelreise in wenig bekannte Gebiete NordPakistans. – Entomologische Zeitschrift 97: 4–10.
Heinz, O. (1989): AzadKashmir: Heimat des Imaibius barysomus heroicus (Coleoptera: Carabidae). – Entomologische Zeitschrift 99: 145–160.
Heinz, O. (1990): Als Entomologen auf Pilgerfahrt. – Entomologische Zeitschrift 100: 365–369, 385–389.
Heinz, O. (1998): Der Iran heute: mit Campingbus und Kopftuch zum Kopetdagh. – Entomologische Zeitschrift 108: 267–280.
Heinz, O. (1999): Sammelerlebnisse und erfahrungen auf einer erneuten Reise in die Nordprovinzen Pakistans: “Aber nie ohne Bodyguard”. – Entomologische Zeitschrift 109: 259–268.
Heinz, O. (2000): “Wer einmal in Chile war, kommt immer wieder”, auf CeroglossusFang an der Carretera Austral. – Entomologische Zeitschrift 110: 364–369.