Gyllenhal, Leonhard

Leonhard Gyllenhal was born in Algusthorp, Sweden, on December 3, 1752. At the age of 17 he entered the University of Uppsala, and studied natural history with Linnaeus, being influenced by the latter to specialize in entomology. However, after three years he entered the Swedish army and served for 27 years. Upon retirement as a major from the army, he met Gustav Paykull and helped the latter with his “Fauna svecica” (1798–1800), and collaborated with Carl Johann Schönherr in production of the latter’ s “Synonymia insectorum” (1806, 1808). Only then did he start his own work, “Insecta Svecica,” of which four volumes were published (1810–1827) on Coleoptera. In the 1830s he also contributed heavily to Schönherr’s “Genera et species curculionidum” He died on May 13, 1840, in Hoeberg, Sweden.