Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow

Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow (9 December 1831 in Lauban – 14 March 1904 in Jugenheim)[1] was a Prussian explorer of Africa,[2] and a naturalist.

Von Mechow joined the Loango-expedition under Paul Güssfeldt.

He collected birds for Jean Cabanis and Anton Reichenow at Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

Several species are named for him including a butterfly (Papilio mechowi ), the dusky long-tailed cuckoo (Cercococcyx mechowi ), and Mechow's mole-rat (Fukomys mechowii ).

Von Mechow is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of African snake, Xenocalamus mechowii,[4] and also Mechowia, a genus of flowering plants from Angola, Zambia and Zaïre, belonging to the family Amaranthaceae.

Members of the Deutschen Gesellschaft zur Erforschung Äquatorial Afrikas (1876). Left to right (Europeans in hats): Eduard Pechuël-Loesche , Otto Lindner , Paul Güssfeldt , Major von Mechow , Julius Falkenstein (explorer) [ de ]