Jean Baptiste Alphonse Dechauffour de Boisduval

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Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Dechauffour de Boisduval, 1874.

Jean Baptiste Alphonse Dechauffour de Boisduval (born June 17, 1799 in Ticheville , † December 30, 1879 ibid) was a French entomologist , botanist and doctor . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Boisd. "

Life

In 1828 Boisduval received his doctorate in medicine. He described many new types of insects. As one of the outstanding butterfly researchers in France, he was also a co-founder of the Société entomologique de France . At the beginning of his career he also dealt with Coleoptera and worked together with Lacordaire and Latreille . He was curator of the Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean collection in Paris and described many new species of beetles and butterflies that were created by the expeditions of the research vessels “Astrolabe” of Jean-François de Galaup, Baron de La Pérouse and the “Coquille” of Louis Isidore Duperrey had been collected.

Collection material

However, most of the material described did not stay in Paris. The Elateridae described by Boisduval are now in the Natural History Museum in London and the types of Curculionidae in the Natural History Museum in Brussels. The butterflies were sold to Charles Oberthür (1845–1924). The Sphingidae are now in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania .

Scientific works

Boisduval published well over 30 important scientific works, some in collaboration with other researchers.

Little is known that his first work dealt with plants. The three volumes Manuel complet de botanique were published by Roret in Paris from 1827 to 1828 .

The work “ Europaeorum lepidopterorum index methodicus” (tableau méthodique des lépidoptères d'Europe) followed in 1829 . La même année, il commence la publication de l'Iconographie et histoire naturelle des coléoptères d'Europe ”.

Together with John Eatton Le Conte, he published the work Histoire général et iconographie des lepidoptérès et des chenilles de l'Amerique septentrionale from 1829 to 1837 in Paris (in English General history and illustrations of the Lepidoptera and caterpillars of Northern America ). The entire work was not completed before 1837. The first work also dealt with beetles, which he published together with Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean in the Iconographie et histoire naturelle des Coléoptères d'Europe . The work appeared in Brussels in several deliveries from 1832 to 1837.

The volume about the insects collected by the research expedition with the “Astrolabe” became a classic ( Jules Dumont d'Urville (Ed.) Voyage de l'Astrolabe. 'Faune entomologique de l'Océanie par le Dr Boisduval. Tome 1 : Lepidoptères (1832); Tome 2 Coléoptères, Hémiptères, Orthoptères Névroptères, Hyménoptères et Diptères (1835)). Together with Adolphe de Graslin and Jules Pièrre Rambur, he published the “Collection iconographique et historique des chenilles d'Europe” in 1832, an important work on scale insects . From the cochineal scale insect ( Dactylopius coccus Costa or Coccus cacti Linnaeus ) living on thistles and prickly pear cacti (opuntia), the red pigment carmine was extracted (among other species) . Scale insect breeding was an important industry in some parts of Europe.

The “Icônes historique des lépidoptères nouveaux ou peu connus. Collection… des papillons d'Europe nouvellement découverts… ”was published by Roret in Paris from 1832 to 1834.

Certainly the most important work for butterfly research was the Histoire Naturelle Des Insectes (published together with Guenée) , which appeared in several deliveries from 1852 to 1874. But he was also interested in the practical application of his scientific results from his entomological research for horticulture. In 1867 he published the work “Essai sur l'entomologie horticole, comprenant l'histoire des insectes nuisibles à l'horticulture avec l'indication des moyens propres à les éloigner ou à les détruire et l'histoire des insectes et autres animaux utiles aux cultures . ” Which appeared in the Librairie d'Horticulture des E. Donnaud in Paris.

Dedication names

As one of the leading butterfly researchers in the first half of the 19th century, many later colleagues honored him by naming butterfly species. Koçak & Koçak (2008) list 20 dedication names that are mainly distributed among different groups of day butterflies.

Web links

Commons : Jean Baptiste Alphonse Dechauffour de Boisduval  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

swell

Individual evidence

  1. Muhabbet Kemal Koçak and Ahmet Omer Koçak: First attempt for a list of the patronyms in the Lepidopterology based upon the Info-System of the Cesa. Center of Entomological Studies Ankara, Priamus Supplement, 12: 1-89, 2008 Online at archive.org

literature

  • Jean Lhoste: Les Entomologistes français . 1750-1950. 351 p. INRA Éditions 1987
  • Anonymous: Obituary . Boisduval. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 16: 235-236, 1880.
  • Anonymous: Obituary . Boisduval. Entomologist, 13: 119, 1880.