Theodor Pleske

Theodor Eduard Pleske (Russian form: Fedor Dmitrievich Pleske Фёдор Эдуардович (Дмитриевич) Плеске) (11 July 1858 – 1 August 1932) was a Russian entomologist and ornithologist who worked at the museum of zoology at St. Petersburg.

Pleske was born in Peterhof to the upper class German family of Eduard Ludwig (1817-1873) and Margaret Elisabeth Oom (1882-1880).

In 1880 he joined an expedition to the Kola Peninsula organized by the St Petersburg Society of Naturalists.

He was already interested in birds and made collections which he donated to the Zoological Museum in 1881 where he worked under V.F.

After graduating he worked in Vladivostok in the administration but his health suffered and he returned in 1883 to St Petersburg and joined the museum as a volunteer.

Pleske had a conflict with Andrei Petrovich Semenov (or Semenov-Tian-Shansky) which may also have precipitated his resignation.