Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (born 1939) is a French

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

specializing in birds of the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

and the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

. In her early career, she discovered with her husband the

Laang Spean Laang Spean (; km, ល្អាងស្ពាន, ; "Cave of Bridges") refers to a prehistoric cave site on top of a limestone hill (''Phnom Teak Treang'') in Battambang Province, north-western Cambodia. The site's name ''Cave of Bridges'' hi ...

cave site of prehistoric humans in Cambodia.

Career

Cécile Chauviré was born on 5 November 1939 in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France. She studied at University of Lyon. Her early work was on large Quaternary mammals. She then proceeded in 1961 to a doctorate in Centre national de la recherche scientifique focusing on

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

birds, a topic few at the time studied in France or Europe. Following her marriage in 1964 to Roland Mourer, she relocated to Cambodia where he was assigned by the French military as a "coopérant" in Kampong Chhnang. In 1965 she was appointed as a geology professor at

Royal University of Phnom Penh The Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP; km, សាកលវិទ្យាល័យភូមិន្ទភ្នំពេញ; french: Université royale de Phnom Penh) is a national research university of Cambodia, located in the Phnom P ...

, a post she held until the civil war in 1970. During this time she discovered with her husband the

cave site of prehistoric humans.Sophady, Heng, et al. "Laang Spean cave (Battambang province): A tale of occupation in Cambodia from the Late Upper Pleistocene to Holocene." Quaternary International 416 (2016): 162-176. In 1970, at the outbreak of civil war in Cambodia, she returned with her two small children to France. In 1971, she secured an appointment with CNRS at

Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (french: link=no, Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, UCBL) is one of the three public universities of Lyon, France. It is named after the French physiologist Claude Bernard and specialises in science and technolo ...

. In 1975 she completed her "Thèse d’Etat", in 1984 her

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

, and in 1985 she was appointed director of research in CNRS which she held until her retirement in 2005. Since her return to France, and also following her retirement, she focused on research of avian fossils. Between 1987 and 1999 she was secretary of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution (SAPE). In 2011, she published with her colleagues on ''

Lavocatavis ''Lavocatavis'' is an extinct genus of phorusrhacoid or "terror bird" from the Eocene of Algeria. A fossilized femur was described from the Glib Zegdou Formation in 2011 and is the only known specimen of ''Lavocatavis''. The species was design ...

africana'', an African fossil that may belong to the

Phorusrhacidae Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted temporal ...

clade (terror birds). The Algerian find is significant as previous finds from the era in Africa were not land-dwelling birds and Phorusrhacidae was not previously known outside of the Americas.

Recognition

The eighth international meeting of SAPE, in 2012, was dedicated to Mourer-Chauviré in tribute to her role as founder and secretary. Colleagues have honoured Mourer-Chauviré by naming fossil bird species and genera after her. As of 2013, the following were named after her: '' Aythya chauvirae, ''

Cypseloides ''Cypseloides'' is a genus of swifts in the family Apodidae. It contains eight described species. They occur mainly in Central and South America. The exception being the American black swift, which has a wide range into North America. Taxonomy ...

mourerchauvireae'', ''Chauvireria Boev'', '' Pica mourerae'', ''Oligosylphe mourerchauvireae'', ''Tyto mourerchauvireae'', ''Afrocygnus chauvireae'', '' Asphaltoglaux cecileae''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile 1939 births French paleontologists Living people University of Lyon alumni Scientists from Lyon Royal University of Phnom Penh alumni