Antoine-Alfred Marche (15 February 1844,

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the Parisian area, located from its Kilometre zero, centre. It is a Subprefectures in ...

– 31 August 1898, Paris, France) was a French naturalist and explorer. He visited Africa, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and finally the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

. He made collections of various artifacts. He made a large collection of bird specimens from the Marianas between 22 April 1887 and May 1889 and some of them included new avian species (such as the

golden white-eye The golden white-eye (''Cleptornis marchei'') is a species of bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is the only species within the genus ''Cleptornis''. The golden white-eye was once considered to be a honeyeater in the family Melipha ...

, a bird described by

Émile Oustalet Jean-Frédéric Émile Oustalet (24 August 1844 – 23 October 1905 Saint-Cast) was a French zoologist.Hellmayr CE (1906). "Emile Oustalet bituary. ''Ornithologische Monatsberichte'' 14 (4): 57-59Scan Oustalet was born at Montbéliard, in the de ...

). In 1887, Marche was awarded the ''

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

''. In his later years, he worked as an

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

.Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Nantes
biography

Expeditions

Africa

He was involved in three expeditions to western Africa (1872, 1873–74 and 1875–77). On the second expedition he was joined by Victor de Compiegne (1846–77) in which he explored the

Ogooué River The Ogooué (or Ogowe), also known as the Nazareth river, some long, is the principal river of Gabon in west central Africa and the fifth largest river in Africa by volume of discharge, trailing only the Congo, Kasai, Niger and Zambezi. Its w ...

. On his third African trip, he accompanied

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà, later known as Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza; 26 January 1852 – 14 September 1905), was an Italian-born, naturalized French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogoou� ...

, and collected numerous zoological specimens.

Philippines

From 1880 onward, Marche devoted several years conducting naturalist studies in the Philippines, via commission of the French government. He had a particular interest in burial sites and spent a great deal of time

caving Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology i ...

the areas of

Boac British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

, Gasan,

Mogpog Mogpog , officially the Municipality of Mogpog ( Tagalog: ''Bayan ng Mogpog'') is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Marinduque, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 34,516 people. History In 1942, the Jap ...

, and others. From this work in the region, Marche published his 1887 ''"Luçon et Palaouan, Six Années de Voyages aux Philippines (Luzon and Palawan, Six Years of Voyages in the Philippines)"''. In the modern era, his discovered artifacts are nationally exhibited as samples of Philippine art and antiquity.

Taxa named after Alfred Marche

Flame-breasted fruit dove The flame-breasted fruit dove (''Ptilinopus marchei'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Philippines only being found in the mountains of Luzon.This is a large dove reaching 42 cm long, being the largest fru ...

, ''Ptilinopus marchei'' (Oustalet, 1880). *

Golden white-eye The golden white-eye (''Cleptornis marchei'') is a species of bird in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. It is the only species within the genus ''Cleptornis''. The golden white-eye was once considered to be a honeyeater in the family Melipha ...

, ''Cleptornis marchei'' (Oustalet, 1889). * Palawan hornbill, ''Anthracoceros marchei'' (Oustalet, 1885). *

Palawan stink badger The Palawan stink badger (''Mydaus marchei''), pantot or tuldo in the Batak language, is a carnivoran of the western Philippines named for its resemblance to badgers, its powerful smell, and the largest island to which it is native, Palawan. Like ...

, ''Mydaus marchei'' (Huet, 1887). * ''Ivindomyrus marchei'' (Moelants, T. 2010).

Published works

* ''Trois voyages dans l'Afrique occidentale : Sénégal, Gambie, Casamance, Gabon, Ogooué'', Hachette, 1879 – Three voyages to western Africa,

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

Casamance , settlement_type = Geographical region , image_skyline = Senegal Casamance.png , image_caption = Casamance in Senegal , image_flag = Flag of Casamance.svg , image_shield = , motto ...

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

and Ogooué. * ''Luçon et Palaouan, six années de voyages aux Philippines'', 1887 –

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

and

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...

, six years of voyages in the Philippines. * ''Exploration éthnographique de l'Ile Rota, Mariannes'', 1889 – Ethnographic exploration of

Rota Island Rota (Chamorro: Luta), also known as the "Friendly Island", is the southernmost island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the second southernmost of the Marianas Archipelago. In early Spanish records i ...

. * ''Rapport Général sur une mission aux Îles Mariannes'', 1891 – General report on a mission to the Marianas. * ''Note de voyage sur les Îles Marianes'', 1898 – Notes on a voyage to the Marianas. * "Luzon and Palawan ..." (translated by Carmen Ojeda and Jovita Castro, etc, 1970). * "The Mariana Islands" (translated from the French by Sylvia E. Cheng, edited by Robert D. Craig, 1982).Google Search
publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marche, Antoine-Alfred French naturalists French explorers Collectors 1844 births 1898 deaths People from Boulogne-Billancourt