Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger (19 November 1775 – 10 May 1813) was a German entomologist and zoologist.
Illiger was invited to Berlin by Alexander von Humboldt and he became professor and director of the "zoological museum" (which is the Natural History Museum of Berlin in the present day) from its formation in 1810 until his death three years later from tuberculosis.
[1][2][3] He was the author of Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium[4] (1811), which was an overhaul of the Linnaean system.
[8][9] In 1811 he introduced the taxonomic order Proboscidea for elephants, the American mastodon and the woolly mammoth.
[11] He created the order Sirenia based on his opinion that the manatee appeared like a mermaid.