Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet

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Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet (born August 26, 1809 in Lays-sur-le-Doubs ( Saône-et-Loire department ), † October 9, 1892 in Velars-sur-Ouche near Dijon ) was a French naturalist , draftsman , Zoologist and malacologist . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Morelet ".

Life

Morelet was the son of a mayor from Dijon. He married Noémie de Folin - the sister of Léopold de Folin - with whom he had two daughters. As a member of the Commission of Algeria, Commission de l'Algérie , he took part primarily as a draftsman of natural history. He had a particular interest in molluscs , which he reported on in many publications, especially at the beginning of his research on the mollusks from Africa. From the Académie des Sciences in Paris he received the suggestion for an expedition to Central America in 1846. A commission was appointed for this purpose and its recommendations were made in writing by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Achille Valenciennes in the Instructions générales rédigées par l'administration du Muséum (freely translated: General instructions from the administration of the museum , the Muséum national d'histoire natural, for travelers and naturalists).

In 1847 Morelet set out on a long excursion through southern Mexico and Central America. From 1848 he presented his collection in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Among other things, he reached Palenque in 1846 and visited this place again in 1871. He traveled through the Mexican states of Tabasco , Chiapas , Campeche and Yucatán , followed the course of the Río Usumacinta , through Petén and all the way into the highlands of Cobán and came to Guatemala and published his findings of the non-marine mollusks in Testacea novissima Insulæ Cubanæ et in 1851 Americæ Centralis . In it Morelet described three species of mollusks from Yucatán, three species from Campeche and a few other species from Mexico and the rest of Central America - a total of 22 species of mollusks. Among the vertebrates Morelet reported, the bumpy crocodile ( Crocodylus moreletii ) is of importance. It was described by Auguste Duméril and Gabriel Bibron and named after its discoverer. The German name refers to the typical bump-shaped elevation of the top of the snout in front of the eyes. It was considered extinct for decades and was not rediscovered until 1923 in the Lake District of Belize . In 1851 he also described two species of pine from Central America, the Caribbean pine ( Pinus caribaea , Morelet 1851), and Pinus tropicalis , Morelet 1851.

Species named after Morelet

Memberships

In 1845 Morelet was introduced by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville as member number 297 of the Société cuviérienne .

Fonts (selection)

  • Description of the mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles du Portugal . Baillière, Paris 1845 ( Online (PDF; 8.4 MB)).
  • Testacea novissima Insulæ Cubanæ et Americæ Centralis . Baillière, Paris 1849 ( archive.org ).
  • Description of the deux nouvelles espèces de pins . In: Revue horticole de la Cote d'Or . Journal mensuel publié par la Société d'horticulture du département . Vol. 1, 1851, pp. 105-107 (two first descriptions).
  • Voyage dans l'Amérique centrale, l'ile de Cuba et le Yucatan . Paris 1857 ( Online (PDF; 43.7 MB)).
  • Iles Açores . Notice sur l'histoire naturelle des Açores suivie d'une description des mollusques terrestres de cet archipelago . Baillières, Paris, London, New York 1860 ( Online (PDF; 13.6 MB)).
  • Colimacea in insula Mauritii de novo reperta . In: Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée (=  2 ). tape 18 , 1866, pp. 62-63 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles . Baillières, Paris, London, New York 1868 ( Online (PDF; 8.1 MB)).

literature

  • Henri Drouet: Notice sur Arthur Morelet, président honoraire de l'Académie de Dijon . In: Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences, arts et belles-lettres de Dijon . Ser. 4, Vol. 4, 1894, ISSN  0755-3617 , pp. 11-36 .
  • Edna Naranjo-García: The "Nonmarine" Mollusks of the Yucatán Peninsula: A Review . In: Arturo Gómez-Pompa et al. (Ed.): The Lowland Maya Area . Three Millennia at the Human-Wildland Interface . Food Product Press, New York, London, Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-56022-970-5 , pp. 305-314 . ( Online ; PDF; 87 kB).
  • Carlos Ossenbach: Orchids and orchidology in Central America . 500 years of history . San José 2009 ( Online (PDF; 12.2 MB)).
  • Société Cuvierienne: Nouveaux membres admis dans la Société curvienne . In: Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne . tape 8 , 1845, p. 270 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Société cuviérienne, p. 270.
personal data
SURNAME Morelet, Pierre Marie Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French naturalist, draftsman, zoologist and malacologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Lays-sur-le-Doubs ( Saône-et-Loire department ), France
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1892
Place of death Velars-sur-Ouche