Afrânio Pompílio Gastos do Amaral (1 December 1894 in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...

– 29 November 1982 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

) was a Brazilian

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...

. As a youngster, he collected

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s for Augusto Emilio Goeldi (1859-1917). He studied medicine in Salvador, Bahia, later finding employment at the

Instituto Butantan Instituto Butantan (in modern Portuguese, Instituto Butantã, ) is a Brazilian biologic research center located in Butantã, in the western part of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Instituto Butantan is a public institution affiliated with the S� ...

. Here, his work involved research and production of

anti-venom Anti-Venom is a fictional antihero appearing in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in '' The Amazing Spider-Man'' #569 (August 2008), and was created by Dan Slott and John Romita Jr. The creature belongs to a race of amorp ...

serum. In 1921 he succeeded

Vital Brazil Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha, known as Vital Brazil (; April 28, 1865 – May 8, 1950), was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and immunologist, known for the discovery of the polyvalent anti-ophidic serum used to treat bites of v ...

(1865-1950) as director of the Instituto Butantan. During his career, he was the author of over 450 published works.Paragraph based on translated text of an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

; source listed as: Kraig Adler (1989). Contributions to the History of Herpetology, Society for the study of amphibians and reptiles : 202 p. ()

Taxa

Amaral was the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

of several herpetological genera (e.g., '' Mastigodryas'', ''

Anotosaura ''Anotosaura'' is a genus of South American lizards in the family Gymnophthalmidae."''Anotosaura'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. Geographic range The genus ''Anotosaura'' is endemic to Brazil. Species The genus ''Anotosau ...

'', '' Colobodactylus'') and of around 40 new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

( Listing of species described by Amaral at French Wikipedia). The following species are named in his honor: *'' Gymnodactylus amarali'' *'' Caaeteboia amarali'' *'' Mastigodryas amarali'' Also, the following subspecies is named in his honor: *'' Boa constrictor amarali''

Selected works

*"A general consideration of snake poisoning and observations on neotropical pit-vipers", 1925. *"South American snakes in the collection of the United States National Museum", 1925. *"''Animaes venenosos do Brasil''", 1930. *"''Animais veneniferos, venenos e antivenenos''", 1945. *"''Linguagem científica''", 1976. *"''Serpentes do Brasil: iconografia colorida''" razilian snakes: a color iconography 1977.WorldCat Identities
(list of published works)

References

1894 births 1982 deaths Brazilian herpetologists People from Belém 20th-century Brazilian zoologists {{Brazil-scientist-stub