MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Coffee Senna with Split-Banded Owlet Butterfly
1702-03RCIN 921188
Merian’s legacy is found not only in her influence on natural history illustration. A number of species have been named after her, among them a large tegu lizard, Salvator merianae, and a European orb-weaver spider, Metellina merianae. The German entomologist Hans Stichel was among those inspired by Merian’s work. He gave this Split-Banded Owlet Butterfly the scientific name Opsiphanes cassina merianae in 1902, two hundred and two years after Merian, on 4 June 1700, had first watched the species emerge from its chrysalis in her Suriname garden.