Henri Heim de Balsac

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henri Frédéric Jules Victor Heim de Balsac mostly Henri Heim de Balsac (born January 1, 1899 in Paris ; † November 27, 1979 there ) was a French zoologist who specialized in ornithology and in the field of small vertebrates .

Live and act

His father Frédéric-Louis Heim de Balsac (1869–1962) was a professor at the medical faculty of the University of Paris and at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers . His mother Augustine Marguerite Juliette geb. Chauliaguet (1869-) and his brother Raymond Heim de Balzac (1903–1972) were also doctor of medicine. He came into contact with medical research at an early age, as his father established teaching in this field in 1905. Influenced by his parents' house, he spent a lot of time collecting different animals and exploring the secrets of the native flora and fauna. So he began studying medicine and natural sciences and in 1922 worked as an external employee in the hospitals of Paris. In 1936 he received his doctorate in natural sciences for his dissertation Mammiferes: Biogeographie des mammiferes et des oiseaux de l'Afrique du Nord . In 1941 the doctor in medicine followed for his dissertation L'Infection des œufs de cane: Fréquence, pathogénie de l'infection, dangers pour l'hygiène alimentaire, précautions nécessaires pour la consumption des œufs de cane . The order of the doctorates indicated his preferred area of ​​interest early on. His family taught him anatomy and developed his strength in analyzing and interpreting facts. As a practitioner, zoology held a strong fascination for him. At first he hesitated between insects and warm-blooded mammals, but finally decided on the latter because he resisted the prevailing opinion in France that everything was already known about them.

During the First World War he renounced the privileges of a medical student, volunteered in the 6th battalion of mountain troops in 1917 and ended the war as a pilot in the Escadrille SPA 15 unit of the French Air Force .

He had to give up his actual desire to work at the museum. In 1926 he taught various areas of industrial and agricultural biology and food science at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers . In 1937 he became a lecturer in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lille , and in 1944 he became a professor in the same faculty.

The concept of his studies of mammals and birds required research in the great outdoors. France itself was explored by young scientists in the 1920s and 1930s, but North Africa was still a vast unexplored area. During this time it was foreign mammologists and ornithologists who worked in Morocco and Tunisia . The French naturalists had lost interest in this area, although the political situation had improved. Heim de Balsac took the opportunity when Education Minister Léon Bérard sent him on a Sahara expedition to Algeria and Tunisia in 1923 . Further trips to Algeria and Morocco followed. In 1947 he was allowed to visit the restricted area in southern Morocco to the Senegal River on the border of the Afrotropic Islands. Here he developed a reputation as an expert on pre-deserts and deserts. Publications in this area dominate his scientific work and especially his scientific dissertation.

He showed that the Sahara has the character of an Afrotropic savannah, which in its final phase turns into a desert. According to his analyzes, mammals and birds were typically with a few exceptions Sudanese - Deccan or Saharo-Sindic. So he dealt with the conspicuous features of desert animals, in particular the hypertrophy of the temporal bone of rodents , as well as the color of furs and feathers, about which he made a witty hypothesis. His travels support this approach to research firsthand and it made him a world class scientist.

Together with his friend Noël Mayaud (1899–1989), he published the work Les oiseaux du Nord-Ouest de L'Afrique in 1962 : distribution geographique, écologie, migrations, reproduction . He didn't like writing very much and his contribution to the work consisted more of observing and gathering information. It is thanks to Mayaud's tenacity that urged him to deliver his observations and comments for the good of science. The result is one of the most important books on the avifauna of Africa, the Maghreb and the Sahel zone with information on systematics , morphology , distribution, breeding season , seasonal bird migration and ecology . A subspecies of the stone lark Ammomanes deserti intermedia , which he described in 1925, is now considered a synonym for Ammomanes deserti mya Hartert , 1912.

Title page of the first edition of Alauda

Despite his aversion to writing, over three hundred publications on European and African birds and mammals came together. He was particularly interested in African rodents from Guinea , the Ivory Coast and Cameroon , whose species were very difficult to classify systematically and led to many new initial descriptions, although the groups were confusing and the boundaries were relatively uncertain to define.

The insectivores were among his favorites. Here he was considered one of the most accomplished experts of his time. So it was he who was the first to describe the dwarf otter shrew ( Micropotamogale lamottei ) from the Nimbabergen in 1954 . This form is related to the great otter shrew ( Potamogale velox ) and forms the link between the Malagasy tenreks and their African representatives among the higher mammals . Heim de Balsac studied their evolution very carefully by comparing their teeth and the peculiarities of their axial skeleton.

He was particularly interested in African insectivores, especially the shrews . He examined the evolutionary developments of their teeth and cranium in all genres. In a confusing system, he determined the range of very local species. So he visited the numerous collections of the great museums and examined the most questionable species. Many expedition members consulted him with questions about their collections and were enthusiastically supported by him.

Other works show him as a universal zoologist. He published on the sexual cycles, the biogeography and paleogeography of bats on the French Atlantic island coasts and their biology. It should not be forgotten that Helm de Balsac almost became an entomologist . He was a connoisseur of butterflies and had a considerable collection of small butterflies from his native Lorraine , which he had collected during his long stays in his estate in Buré d'Orval .

One of his last ornithological pleasures was studying a new species of nuthatch, which Jean-Paul Ledant (* 1951) had discovered in North Africa and which was first described by Jacques Vielliard in 1976 under the name Kabylenkleiber ( Sitta ledanti ). It was Heim de Balsac who in the same year sent a note from Vielliard on the evolutionary biology of the species to the Académie des sciences for publication.

When Paul Paris founded Alauda , an ornithological specialist magazine, in 1929 , it was Jacques de Chavigny (1880–1963), Jacques Delamain (1874–1953), Adrien Joseph Louis Lavauden (1881–1935), Noël Mayaud, Heim de Balsac, Paul Poty (1889–1962), Henri Louis Ernest Jouard (1896–1938) and Paris who sat in the editorial office. After the death of most of the founding members, he continued the magazine with Mayaud.

Dedication names

1974 described René Paulin Jacobé de Naurois (1906-2006) and Francis Roux (1930-2014) with Platalea leucorodia balsaci a subspecies of the spoonbill , which they named in his honor. Christian Erard , Georges Hémery and Eric Pasquet dedicated to him in 1993 with Rhinoptilus cinctus balsaci a subspecies of binding racing bird . Pierre Louis Dekeyser (1914-1984) and André Villiers (1915-1983) described a subspecies of the crested lark in 1950 under the name Galerida cristata balsaci . In 1981, Rainer Hutterer named a subspecies of the white- toothed shrews from Senegal Crocidura smithii debalsaci , Maxime Lamotte and Francis Petter named a subspecies of the Stuhlmann Goldmull in the same year under the name Chrysochloris stuhlmanni balsaci .

Memberships and honors

On May 29, 1961, he was elected a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in the field of zoology. From 1947 he was the correspondent of the Académie d'agriculture de France . In addition, he was a member of numerous learned societies.

First descriptions by Heim de Balsac

Heim de Balsac has described numerous genera, species and subspecies that were new to science. For some he worked a. a. with Maxime Lamotte (1920–2007), Villy Aellen (1926–2000), André Brosset (1926–2004), Gérard Dubost (* 1926), Jean-Jacques Barloy (1939–2013), Max Henri Begouën (1893–1961) and Louis Bellier (1931–2003) together. The genera, species and subspecies include chronological and a .:

Genera

species

Subspecies

Fonts (selection)

  • Mission dans le Sahara central and description of the Oiseau nouveau du genre Ammomanes . In: Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle . Volume 31 , no. 2 , 1925, p. 137-144 .
  • with Max Bégouen: Faits nouveaux concernant les Damans de l'Ahaggar . In: Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (=  2 ). tape 4 , no. 6 , 1932, pp. 478-483 ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
  • Mission Saharienne Augièras-Draper 1927–1928. Mammifères . In: Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (=  2 ). tape 6 , no. 6 , 1934, pp. 482-489 ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
  • with Henri Louis Ernest Jouard, Noël Mayaud: Sur l'Inventaire des Oiseaux de France . In: Alauda (=  3 ). tape 8 , no. 2 , 1936, pp. 258–260 ( bibliotheques.mnhn.fr ).
  • with Maxime Lamotte: Evolution et phylogénie des Soricidés africains - I. In: Mammalia . tape 20 , no. 2 , 1956, p. 140-167 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1956.20.2.140 .
  • with Maxime Lamotte: Evolution et phylogénie des Soricidés africains - II. In: Mammalia . tape 21 , no. 1 , 1957, pp. 16-46 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1957.21.1.15 .
  • with Villy Aellen: Les Soricidae de basse Côte d'Ivoire . In: Revue suisse de zoologie . tape 65 , no. 45 , 1958, pp. 921-956 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • with Noël Mayaud: Les oiseaux du Nord-Ouest de L'Afrique: distribution géographique, écologie, migrations, reproduction . Paul Lechevalier, Paris 1962.
  • with André Brosset, Gérard Dubost: Mammifères inedits recoltes au Gabon . In: Biologia Gabonica . tape 1 , 1965, p. 148-174 .
  • with Villy Aellen: Les Soricidae de basse Côte d'Ivoire . In: Revue suisse de zoologie . tape 72 , no. 36 , 1965, pp. 695-753 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • with Jean-Jacques Barloy: Révision des crocidures du groupe flavescens – occidentalis-manni . In: Mammalia . tape 30 , no. 4 , 1966, pp. 601-633 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1966.30.4.601 .
  • with Louis Bellier: List of préliminaire des rongeurs de Lamto (Côte-d'Ivoire) . In: Mammalia . tape 31 , no. 1 , 1967, p. 156-159 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1967.31.1.156 .

literature

  • Jean Dorst: Necrology. Henri Heim de Balsac (1899–1979) . In: Mammalia . tape 44 , no. 2 , 1980, p. 275-276 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1980.44.2.275 .
  • Jean Dorst: Notice nécrologique. Henri Heim de Balsac (1899–1979) . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences . tape 290 , 1980, pp. 127–130 ( academie-sciences.fr [PDF; 346 kB ]).
  • Jacques Vielliard: In memoriam Henri Heim de Balsac (1899–1979) . In: Alauda . tape 47 , no. 4 , 1979, p. 233–234 ( bibliotheques.mnhn.fr ).
  • Pierre Louis Dekeyser, André Villiers: Contribution à l'étude du peuplement de la Mauritanie. Oiseaux récoltés by A. Villiers . In: Bulletin de L'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire . tape 12 , 1950, pp. 660-699 .
  • René Paulin Jacobé de Naurois, Francis Roux: Précisions concernant la morphologie, les affinités et la position systematique de quelques oiseaux du Banc d'Arguin (Mauritanie) . In: L'Oiseau et la revue française d'ornithologie (=  Nouvelle série ). tape 44 , 1974, ISSN  0030-1531 , pp. 72-84 .
  • Maxime Lamotte, Francis Petter: Une taupe dorée nouvelle du Cameroun (Mt Oku, 6 ° 15'N, 10 ° 26'E): Chrysochloris stuhlmanni balsaci ssp. nov. In: Mammalia . tape 45 , no. 1 , 1981, p. 43-48 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1981.45.1.43 .
  • Rainer Hutterer : Range extension of Crocidura smithii, with description of a new subspecies from Senegal . In: Mammalia . tape 45 , no. 3 , 1981, p. 388-391 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1981.45.3.379 .
  • Christian Erard, Georges Hémery, Éric Pasquet: Variation géographique de Cursorius cinctus (Heuglin, 1863), Aves: Glareolidae . In: Bonn zoological contributions . tape 44 , no. 3-4 , 1993, pp. 165-192 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Jacques Vielliard: Un nouveau temoin relictuel de la speciation dans la zone mediterraneenne: Sitta ledanti (Aves: Sittidae) . In: Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences (=  Série D ). tape 283 , no. 3 , 1976, p. 1193-1195 ( bionames.org ).

Web links

Commons : Henri Heim de Balsac  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henri Heim de Balsac (Mission dans le Sahara central et description d "un Oiseau nouveau du genre Ammomanes), p. 139f.
  2. ↑ a b c Jean Dorst (Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences), p. 130.
  3. ↑ a b c Jean Dorst (Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences), p. 128.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Jean Dorst (Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences), p. 129.
  5. ↑ Jacques Vielliard, p. 1193.
  6. ↑ René Paulin Jacobé de Naurois u. a., p. 77.
  7. ↑ Christian Erard et al. a., p. 188.
  8. ↑ Pierre Louis Dekeyser et al. a., p. 675.
  9. ↑ Rainer Hutterer, p. 390.
  10. ↑ Maxime Lamotte et al. a., p. 44.
personal data
SURNAME Heim de Balsac, Henri
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heim de Balsac, Henri Frédéric Jules Victor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French zoologist, ornithologist and specialist in small vertebrates
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1979
Place of death Paris