Theodore Cantor
Theodore Edward Cantor was a Danish physician, zoologist and botanist.
Born to a Danish Jewish family, his mother was a sister of Nathaniel Wallich. Cantor worked for the British East India Company, and made natural history collections in Penang and Malacca.
Cantor was the first Western scientist to describe the Siamese fighting fish. In the scientific field of herpetology he described many new species of reptiles and amphibians. Species first described by Cantor include Bungarus bungaroides, Bungarus lividus, Channa argus, Elaphe rufodorsata, Euprepiophis mandarinus, Hippocampus comes, Lycodon effraenis, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, Naja atra, Oligodon albocinctus, Oligodon cyclurus, Ophiophagus hannah, Oreocryptophis porphyracea, Pareas monticola, Protobothrops mucrosquamatus, Ptyas dhumnades, and Trimeresurus erythrurus.
The genus Cantoria with the type species Cantoria violacea is named in Cantor's honour, as are Pelochelys cantorii, commonly known as Cantor's giant softshell turtle, and Trimeresurus cantori, commonly known as the Cantor's pit viper.
He was the author of:
*
