Knud Andersen (mammalogist)


Knud Christian Andersen was a Danish zoologist. His research focused on bats.

Life and work

Towards the end of the 19th century, Andersen first worked as an ornithologist and ran field studies on the Faroe Islands. In 1901 Ferdinand I awarded him an appointment at the Zoological Museum of Sofia. Due to his frustration with the working conditions, he gave up this position. In 1904, he was hired by the British Museum to research bats in the Pacific, in South-East Asia and in Queensland. He was especially interested in the genus Flying Fox and Horseshoe bats, of which he described 15 new species. He published 13 scientific papers on the South-East Asian Horseshoe bats. His most famous work was his Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the Collection of the British Museum, which is considered one of the most extensive works on flying foxes. Andersen was elected fellow of the Zoological Society of London in 1909.
In 1918 he mysteriously disappeared; his body has never been found.

Dedicated taxa

Rhinolophus anderseni.
Dobsonia anderseni, Artibeus anderseni.

Selected publications