{{short description|Dutch arachnologist (1905–1972)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox clergy | honorific_prefix = Father | name = Chrysanthus | honorific_suffix = OFMCap | image = Pater Chrysanthus (Entomol. ber. 1972).png | alt = A man wearing glasses, a jacket, and tie is holding a clear box with a spider inside. | caption = Chrysanthus holding a spider | birth_name = Wilhelmus Egbertus Antonius Janssen | birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|09|01|df=y}} | birth_place = Mill, North Brabant, The Netherlands | death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|05|04|1905|09|01|df=y}} | death_place = Oosterhout, North Brabant, The Netherlands }} '''Wilhelmus Egbertus Antonius Janssen''' (1 September 1905 – 4 May 1972), better known as '''Father Chrysanthus'''{{efn|Also known as '''Pater Chrysanthus'''.<ref name="DictOfEnt"/>}} OFMCap, was a Dutch priest and biology teacher. He was known for his studies in arachnology. Initially he was concerned with the spiders of the Netherlands but he became a specialist on New Guinea spiders. Two spider species were named in his honor following his death.
==Early life and education== Wilhelmus Egbertus Antonius Janssen was born in Mill, North Brabant, on 1 September 1905. He studied at a minor seminary from 1918 to 1924, and joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin on 7 September 1924. After studying philosophy and theology at the major seminary, he became ordained on 12 March 1932. He lived at the Capuchin Order monastery in Oosterhout.<ref name="BullBritArach"/> Chrysanthus taught biology at the minor seminary (now known as {{ill|Sint-Oelbertgymnasium|nl}}) from 1932 to 1972.<ref name="EntBerich"/>
==Research on spiders== Chrysanthus began studying Dutch spiders in 1939 after being inspired by Fritz Lock's book ''{{lang|de|Aus dem leben der Spinnen}}'', published the same year. He started off writing for magazines like {{ill|De Levende Natuur|nl|italics=y}}.<ref name="EntBerich"/> In 1950, he wrote ''{{lang|nl|Spinachtigen en Duizendpoten}}'' ("Arachnids and Centipedes") for the series {{lang|nl|Wat Leeft en Groeit}}; this book was favorably reviewed in ''{{ill|Vakblad voor Biologen|nl}}''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van der Hammen |first1=L. |title=P. Chrysanthus. Spinachtigen en Duizendpoten |department=Boekbesprekingen |journal=Vakblad voor Biologen |date=1951 |volume=31 |issue=12 |pages=234–235 |language=nl}}</ref> {{ill|Peter J. van Helsdingen|de}} called it "excellent" in 1977.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Helsdingen |first1=P. J. |title=W. van Katwijk, Spinnen van Nederland |department=Boekbesprekingen en Literatuur |journal=Entomologische Berichten |date=1977 |volume=37 |issue=7 |page=112 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57851115 |language=nl}}</ref> The first edition of Chrysanthus's ''{{lang|nl|Nederlandse Spinnen}}'' ("Dutch Spiders"), written for the {{ill|Koninklijke Nederlandse Natuurhistorische Vereniging|nl}}'s {{lang|nl|Wetenschappelijke mededelingen}} series, was published in 1954. Additional editions were published in 1963, 1971, and 1980. The Dutch entomologist {{ill|Barend Lempke|nl}} favorably reviewed all four editions.<ref>{{multiref |{{cite journal |last1=Lempke |first1=B. J. |title=Pater Chrysanthus, Spinachtigen — Arachnoidea, I. Nederlandse Spinnen|journal=Entomologische Berichten |date=1954 |volume=15 |issue=12 |page=272 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57794492|department=Literatuur |ref=none |language=nl}} |{{cite journal |last1=Lempke |first1=B. J. |title=Chrysanthus, Pater, Spinachtigen — Arachnida, I. Nederlandse spinnen, Tweede druk |journal=Entomologische Berichten |date=1964 |volume=24 |issue=4 |page=65 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57843507|department=Boekbesprekingen en Literatuur |ref=none |language=nl}} |{{cite journal |last1=Lempke |first1=B. J. |title=Pater Chrysanthus, Spinachtigen — Arachnida, I. Nederlandse Spinnen |journal=Entomologische Berichten |date=1972 |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=40 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57842676|department=Boekbesprekingen en Literatuur |ref=none |language=nl}} |{{cite journal |last1=Lempke |first1=B. J. |title=Chrysanthus, Pater, Nederlandse Spinnen |journal=Entomologische Berichten |date=1981 |volume=41 |issue=5 |page=66 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59431780 |department=Literatuur |ref=none |language=nl}}}}</ref>
[[File:RMNH.ARA.977 1 Cyrtophora monulfi Chrysanthus.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Holotype of ''Cyrtophora monulfi'' – A spider is submerged in alcohol in a vial with a handwritten label|Chrysanthus named ''Cyrtophora monulfi'' after Monulf, who provided specimens from New Guinea<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chrysanthus |title=Spiders from South New Guinea III |journal=Nova Guinea, Zoology |date=1960 |volume=4 |pages=26–28}}</ref>]] In 1957, Chrysanthus became interested in the spiders of New Guinea after Brother Monulf{{efn|Monulf was also known as Monulphus.}} sent him a collection of spiders he amassed during missionary work in Merauke and Mindiptana in Western New Guinea; Chrysanthus had previously met Monulf in Wellerlooi in 1953.<ref name="EntBerich"/> Chrysanthus travelled to natural history museums in Frankfurt, Genoa, London, and Paris to consult their collections.<ref name="BullBritArach"/> Missionaries, museum guests, and scientific expeditions provided him with newer collections of New Guinea spiders as well.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Main |first1=Barbara York |chapter=Some zoogeographic considerations of families of spiders occurring in New Guinea |title=Biogeography and Ecology of New Guinea |series=Monographiae Biologicae |date=1982 |volume=42.II |editor-last=Gressitt |editor-first=J.L.|page=583 |doi=10.1007/978-94-009-8632-9_27|isbn=978-94-009-8634-3 }}</ref> As Chrysanthus became known for his work on New Guinea spiders, museums were interested in providing him with specimens as they lacked specialists in this area.<ref name="BullBritArach"/> Researchers who consulted him to identify New Guinea spiders included the ethnobiologist Ralph Bulmer,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bulmer |first1=Ralph N.H. |title=Folk biology in the New Guinea Highlands |journal=Social Science Information |date=1974 |volume=13 |issue=4–5 |page=27 |doi=10.1177/053901847401300402|s2cid=144737406 }}</ref> the biologist {{ill|Yael Lubin|he|יעל לובין}},<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lubin |first1=Yael D. |title=The Predatory Behavior of ''Cyrtophora'' (Araneae: Araneidae) |journal=The Journal of Arachnology |date=1980 |volume=8 |issue=2 |page=183 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53032560 |jstor=3705189}}</ref> and the zoologist Michael H. Robinson.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=Barbara C. |last2=Robinson |first2=Michael H. |title=The biology of some ''Argiope'' species from New Guinea: predatory behaviour and stabilimentum construction (Araneae: Araneidae) |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |date=1974 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=146, 158 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1974.tb00796.x}}</ref> In 1982, Robinson wrote "almost all of the recent work on the taxonomy of New Guinea spiders" was due to Chrysanthus, and that after his death there was no one who knew as much about the taxonomy New Guinea spiders.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robinson |first1=Michael Hill |chapter=The Ecology and Biogeography of Spiders in Papua New Guinea |title=Biogeography and Ecology of New Guinea |series=Monographiae Biologicae |date=1982 |volume=42.II |editor-last=Gressitt |editor-first=J.L.|page=557 |doi=10.1007/978-94-009-8632-9_26|isbn=978-94-009-8634-3 }}</ref> Valerie Todd Davies, in a 1997 book review, wrote that it "is regretted" that the authors of a book on spiders of Southeastern Asia did not cite Chrysanthus's papers on New Guinea spiders.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davies |first1=V. |title=Riceland Spiders of South and Southeastern Asia |journal=Australian Entomologist |date=1997 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=5–6 |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.093504380189379 |url-access=subscription |department=Book Review}}</ref>
Within taxonomy, he helped show that ''Metellina mengei'' and ''Metellina segmentata'' were in fact distinct species and not merely varieties of one species;<ref name="BullBritArach"/> this was in a 1953 paper in ''Zoologische Mededelingen''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chrysanthus |title=Is ''Meta mengei'' Blackwall a variety of ''Meta segmentata'' (Clerck)? (Aranei-Argiopidae) |journal=Zoologische Mededelingen |date=1953 |volume=32 |issue=15 |pages=155–163 |url=https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/318038 |archive-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303061829/https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/318038/ZM1953032015.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> G. H. Locket and A. F. Millidge, who had previously considered them to be the same species, listed them as distinct species in the third volume of ''British Spiders'' because of the analysis in Chrysanthus's paper.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Locket |first1=G.H. |last2=Millidge |first2=A.F. |last3=Merrett |first3=P. |title=British Spiders |volume=III |date=1974 |publisher=Ray Society |location=London |page=64 |chapter=''Meta mengei'' (Blackwall)}}</ref> Chrysanthus is also known for work in the genus ''Coelotes''.<ref name="EntBerich"/> He cleared up the taxonomic confusion with the identities and synonymy of ''C. atropos'', ''C. saxatilis'', and ''C. terrestris'';<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lehtinen |first1=Pekka T. |title=Classification of the Cribellate spiders and some allied families, with notes on the evolution of the suborder Araneomorpha |journal=Annales Zoologici Fennici |date=1967 |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=223 |jstor=23731560 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brignoli |first1=Paolo Marcello |title=On a few spiders from China (Araneae) |journal=Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society |date=1982 |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=347–349 |url=https://britishspiders.org.uk/system/files/library/050803.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303220500/https://britishspiders.org.uk/system/files/library/050803.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> this was published in a 1965 paper in ''{{lang|nl|Tijdschrift voor Entomologie}}''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chrysanthus |title=On the identity of ''Coelotes atropos'' (Walckenaer), ''saxatilis'' (Blackwall) and ''terrestris'' (Wider) (Araneida, Agelenidae) |journal=Tijdschrift voor Entomologie |date=1965 |volume=108 |issue=3 |pages=61–71 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28271508}}</ref> This led him to write a proposal in ''The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chrysanthus |title=Comment on the supplement to the application concerning the validation of ''Amaurobius'' C. L. Koch and ''Coelotes'' Blackwall, Z.N. (S) 1625 |journal=The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |date=1965 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=216–217 |doi=10.5962/bhl.part.11100 |doi-access=free}}</ref> as an amendment to Herbert W. Levi and Otto Kraus's proposal concerning ''Coelotes''.<ref>{{multiref|{{cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Herbert Walter |last2=Kraus |first2=Otto |title=''Amaurobius'' C.L. Koch, 1837 and ''Coelotes'' Blackwall, 1841, (Arachnida, Araneae): proposed preservation under the plenary powers. Z.N.(S.) 1625 |journal=The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |date=1964 |volume=21 |pages=150–153 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/98203 |ref=none}}|{{cite journal |last1=Levi |first1=Herbert W. |last2=Kraus |first2=Otto |title=Supplement to the application concerning the validation of ''Amaurobius'' C. L. Koch and ''Coelotes'' Blackwall Z.N.(S) 1625 |journal=The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |date=1965 |volume=22 |pages=140–141 |doi=10.5962/bhl.part.11072 |doi-access=free |ref=none}}|{{cite journal|last1=Levi |first1=Herbert W. |last2=Kraus |first2=Otto |title=''Amaurobius'' proposals: Comment on the alternative proposals made by Fr. Chrysanthus. Z.N.(S.) 1625 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12222887 |page=82 |volume=23 |issue=2/3 |journal=The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |date=1966 |ref=none}}}}</ref> In 1979, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature accepted Chrysanthus's version of the proposal.<ref>{{cite journal|author=ICZN |date=1979 |title=Opinion 1119. ''Amaurobius'' C.L. Koch, 1837, and ''Coelotes'' Blackwall, 1841 (Araneae): Conserved under the Plenary Powers |journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=216–220 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12226823}}</ref>
In 1955, Chrysanthus joined the editorial board of the journal {{lang|nl|Tijdschrift voor Entomologie}} — a position he would hold until 1971.<ref name="EntBerich"/> Chrysanthus attended the first international congress of the International Society of Arachnology in Bonn, Germany, in 1960; he was the only non-German to attend.<ref name="Kraus99"/> In 1965, he attended the 3rd Congress of European Arachnologists, held in Frankfurt.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jäger |first1=Peter |last2=Schönhofer |first2=Axel |title=Eight legs, two wings, one life for scientific research—celebrating the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr Jochen Martens |journal=Zootaxa |date=2021 |volume=4984 |issue=1 |page=10 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4984.1.4|pmid=34186698 |doi-access=free }}</ref> He was also a visiting researcher at the Naturmuseum Senckenberg.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kraus |first1=Otto |title=Arachnologie im Senckenberg: Von Wider bis Wiehle |journal=Arachnologische Mitteilungen |date=2006 |volume=32 |page=4 |url=https://arages.de/user_upload/psb_publicationmanagement/pdf/AM32_01_07.pdf |id={{BHL page|50349059}} |language=de |archive-date=21 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121084402/https://arages.de/user_upload/psb_publicationmanagement/pdf/AM32_01_07.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> He was a member of the Netherlands Entomological Society,<ref name="BullBritArach"/> having joined in 1946.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Lijst van de Leden der Nederlandsche Entomologische Vereeniging op 1 April 1949 |journal=Tijdschrift voor Entomologie |date=1948 |volume=91 |page=LXXVII |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28240609 |publication-date=1949}}</ref> In 1967, he was given the position of Scientific Collaborator at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. Over the course of his lifetime, he wrote over one hundred papers.<ref name="EntBerich"/> The World Spider Catalog includes 77 species which Chrysanthus described; {{as of|2022|lc=y}}, 64 of them remain valid names.<ref>{{cite web|author=World Spider Catalog |title=Search taxa |url=https://wsc.nmbe.ch/search |website=World Spider Catalog |version=23.0 |publisher=Natural History Museum Bern |access-date=4 March 2022 |doi=10.24436/2 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Chrysanthus died on 4 May 1972, at the age of 66,<ref name="EntBerich"/> in his monastery in Oosterhout following a long illness.<ref name="BullBritArach"/> Ludwig van der Hammen and Peter J. van Helsdinger wrote an obituary for Chrysanthus in ''Entomologische Berichten''.<ref name="EntBerich"/> Van Helsdinger also wrote an obituary for ''Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society'',<ref name="BullBritArach"/> which was reprinted in the newsletter for the American Arachnological Society.<ref name="AmArach"/> Chrysanthus's collection of New Guinea spiders was deposited in the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie; his collection of spiders from South Limburg is now in the Maastricht Natural History Museum.<ref name=Engel/> His books were donated to the university library in Nijmegen.<ref name="EntBerich"/>
In 1981, the Indian arachnologists B. K. Tikader and Animesh Bal named the species ''Neoscona chrysanthusi'' after him "in token of high regard which the present authors have for him."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tikader |first1=B. K. |last2=Bal |first2=Animesh |title=Studies on Some Orb-Weaving Spiders of the Genera ''Neoscona'' Simon and ''Araneus'' Clerck of the Family Araneidae (=Argiopidae) from India |series=Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper |volume=24 |date=1981 |pages=13–15 |publisher=Controller of Publications |location=Delhi |url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/occpapers/024/index.pdf#page=18 |archive-date=8 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108001722/http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/occpapers/024/index.pdf#page=18 |url-status=live}}</ref> G. H. Locket named the species ''Nasoona chrysanthusi'' "in affectionate memory of the late Father Chrysanthus and in admiration of his work on New Guinea spiders" in 1982.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Locket |first=G. H. |date=1982 |title=Some Linyphiid Spiders from Western Malaysia |journal=Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=368–370 |url=https://britishspiders.org.uk/node/2507 |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301071236/https://britishspiders.org.uk/system/files/library/050805.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== <references>
<ref name="Engel">{{cite book |last1=Engel |first1=Hendrik |editor1-last=Smit |editor1-first=Pieter |title=Hendrik Engel's Alphabetical List of Dutch Zoological Cabinets and Menageries |date=1986 |publisher=Rodopi |location=Amsterdam |isbn=90-6203-618-X |page=134 |edition=2nd, enl. |chapter=762. JANSSEN, Wilhelmus Egbertus Antonius (Father Chrysanthus OFM Cap.) |series=Nieuwe Nederlandse Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde en der Natuurwetenschappen |volume=19}}</ref>
<ref name="EntBerich">{{cite journal|last1=van der Hammen |first1=L. |last2=van Helsdingen |first2=P.J. |date=1972 |title=In memoriam Pater Chrysanthus OFMCap |journal=Entomologische Berichten |volume=32 |issue=8 |pages=145–150 |url=https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/1013576 |id={{BHL page|57842781}} |language=nl |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301022107/https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/1013576/EB1972032008001.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="BullBritArach">{{cite journal|last=v[an] H[elsdingen] |first=P[eter] J. |date=1973 |title=Father Chrysanthus OFMCap: 1 September 1905 – 4 May 1972 |journal=Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society |volume=2 |issue=7 |page=148 |url=https://britishspiders.org.uk/node/2313 |archive-date=28 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228062424/https://britishspiders.org.uk/system/files/library/020707.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Kraus99">{{cite journal |last1=Kraus |first1=Otto |title=Historic Overview of Past Congresses of Arachnology and of the Centre International de Documentation Arachnologique (C.I.D.A.) |journal=The Journal of Arachnology |date=1999 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=3–6 |jstor=3705958 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53039228}}</ref>
<ref name="AmArach">{{cite journal |last1=Van Helsdingen |first1=Peter |title=Biographical Sketch: Father Chrysanthus |journal=American Arachnology |date=1980 |volume=22 |page=8 |url=https://www.americanarachnology.org/fileadmin/documents/am_arachnol_newsletter/AmerArachnol22_Oct_1980.pdf#page=9 |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301023522/https://www.americanarachnology.org/fileadmin/documents/am_arachnol_newsletter/AmerArachnol22_Oct_1980.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="DictOfEnt">{{cite dictionary|last1=Gordh |first1=Gordon |title=A Dictionary of Entomology |date=2011 |publisher=CABI |location=Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK |isbn=978-1-84593-542-9 |edition=2nd |entry=Chrysanthus, Pater (1905–1972) |page=299}}</ref>
</references>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chrysanthus, Father}} Category:1905 births Category:1972 deaths Category:People from North Brabant Category:20th-century Dutch Roman Catholic priests Category:Capuchins Category:Arachnologists Category:20th-century Dutch zoologists