Danièle Guinot (born 1933) is a French biologist, an emeritus professor at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

in France, known for her research on

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

Biography

Guinot was born in eastern France and educated at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

and the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, finishing her studies in 1955. She then joined the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle as a research assistant; she remained there for the rest of her career. She earned a doctorate from Pierre and Marie Curie University in 1977.

Research

Guinot carried out several studies of crabs from exotic environments, including deep-sea crabs from the

Indo-West Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

bathyal zone and from hydrothermal vents, and crabs living in caves in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Her doctoral thesis proposed a new classification system for certain crabs based on the position of their reproductive organs. In later studies, she became particularly interested in crab behavior, including

stridulation Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mech ...

, carrying, and camouflage. Over the course of her career she described 10 new families of crabs, 47 new genera, and 163 new species. Guinot has also studied the history of crabs and of their interactions with humans, including crab fishing techniques, medicinal uses of crabs, and the study of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

fossil crabs.

Awards and honors

In 2008, Guinot was the recipient of the Excellence in Research Award of the Crustacean Society.. More than 30 genera and species have been named in honor of Guinot. In 2010, a tribute volume of crustacean research papers was dedicated to her, and the Japanese soldier crab species ''

Mictyris guinotae ''Mictyris guinotae'' is a species of soldier crab of genus '' Mictyris'', endemic to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. They were named after Danièle Guinot, a professor at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in France, and were first treate ...

'' (newly distinguished from the previously identified species '' Mictyris brevidactylus'') was named after her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinot, Daniele 1933 births Living people French women biologists French carcinologists University of Montpellier alumni University of Paris alumni National Museum of Natural History (France) people