Baron Michel Edmond de Selys Longchamps (25 May 1813 – 11 December 1900) was a Belgian

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

politician and scientist. Selys Longchamps has been regarded as the founding figure of odonatology, the study of the

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

and damselflies. His wealth and influence enabled him to amass one of the finest collections of

neuroptera The insect order (biology), order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera (alderflies, f ...

insects and to describe many species from around the world. His collection is housed in the

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences (, ; , ) is a Brussels museum dedicated to natural history. It is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (; ), itself part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSP ...

Biography

Selys was a wealthy aristocrat born in Paris to Michel Laurent de Selys Longchamps and Marie-Denise Gandolphe. He was educated at home by private tutors and never attended school or university. Nevertheless, he became known as the world's leading authority on Odonata as well as an expert on

Neuroptera The insect order (biology), order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera (alderflies, f ...

and European

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...

. He was also a leading

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. A Liberal Party representative in the Belgian Parliament, he became Councillor for

Waremme Waremme (; ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Liège Province, province of Liège, in Belgium. The city is located on the River Jeker, Geer (), in the loessic Haspengouw region. The economy i ...

in 1846, entered the Belgian Senate in 1855, and was finally elected President of the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( ; ; ) is one of the two chambers of the Bicameralism, bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament, Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be ...

from 1880 to 1884.Essig 1931Wasscher & Dumont 2013 His early interest in birds is shown by a book of coloured figures of Belgian species painted when he was 16. Ornithology remained a lifelong interest and he assembled an ornithological museum at Waremme, maintaining very large collections of birds, both European and exotic, including a

great auk The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''), also known as the penguin or garefowl, is an Extinction, extinct species of flightless bird, flightless auk, alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and Bird extinction, became extinct in the ...

and an egg. He was also interested in small

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

. At 18 (1831), he published his first scientific paper, a list of the insects of Liège and in 1837 a list of the dragonflies or Odonata and butterflies and moths or

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

of Belgium. From that date on, a continuous flow of papers on the Odonata appeared. The works were often

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

ic, examples being, 1840 ''Monographie des Libellulides d'Europe'' and 1850 ''Revue des Odonates d'Europe'', two large works on "Gomphines" and "Calopterygines". There were also systematic works containing

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses, tables and keys) of the "Gomphines", Calopterygines", Agrionines", "Cordulines" and ( generic only) "Aeschnines", the only family not so treated being the difficult "Libellulines". There were (very numerous) local faunas for dragonflies (synopses), appendices to travel works,

and morphological notes. Selys met and began a collaboration with Hermann August Hagen in 1845; They jointly produced the Revue and two monographs. Hagen also aided work on the Synopses and sometimes Selys is given as the author in Kirby's catalogue when Hagen is (in many such instances it is clearly stated by Selys that he had never seen the insects and that Hagen was the author). Selys is the properly attributed author of well over 1,000 species, an enormous number compared to Hagen and more than half of known species. Aware of being an "homme distrait" (distracted man), Selys often affixed names to undescribed species in his collection (

nomina nuda Nomen may refer to: *Nomen gentilicium, the middle part of Ancient Roman names ** ''Nomen est omen'', a Latin quote about nominative determinism *Nomen (ancient Egypt), the personal name of Ancient Egyptian pharaohs *Jaume Nomen (born 1960), Catal ...

). This led to much later nomenclatural confusion. Selys was an inveterate traveller, spending long periods in most European countries and being an honorary member of almost all European entomological societies including the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

which so honoured him in 1871. He helped to found the Société Entomologique de Belgique in 1856. He was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1873. He amassed the greatest collection of

and

in the world, incorporating the collections of

Pierre André Latreille Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoology, zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained hi ...

, Jules Pièrre Rambur,

Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville (; his name, before the French Revolution, Revolution, included a Nobiliary particle, particle: Audinet de Serville) was a French entomologist, born on 11 November 1775 in Paris. He died on 27 March 1858 in La Fert ...

, and Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville, and wrote over 250 papers some of which are masterworks. His collection is in the

, although there are de Selys

types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

in many other museums, including the Hope Department of Entomology, University of Oxford. He died at

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

Honours

* : 1882: Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold. * : Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. * : Commander in the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

Works

Selys published over 250 works on entomology, ornithology and other topics in natural history: ;Odonata *1840. ''Monographie des Libellulidées d'Europe'' Brussels, 220 pages. *1842. ''Faune Belge'' *1850 with Hermann August Hagen. Revue des odonates ou Libellules d'Europe. ''Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liége'' 6:1–408. Downloadable at Gallic

*1853. Synopsis des Calopterygines. ''Bulletin de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Belgique'' (1)20:1–73 (reprint 1–73). *1854
Synopsis des Gomphines
''Bulletin de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Belgique'' 21:23–114. *1854
Monographie des Calopterygines
''Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liége'' 9:1–292 *1858
Monographie des Gomphines
''Mémoires de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liége'' 11:257–713 *1862
Synopsis des agrionines, seconde légion: Lestes
''Bulletin de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Belgique'' (2)13:288–338 (reprint 1–54). *1871
Synopsis des Cordulines
''Bulletin de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Belgique'' (2)31:238–316;519-565. *1876
Synopsis des agrionines, cinquième légion: Agrion (suite). Le grand genre Agrion
''Bulletin de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Belgique'' (2) 41:247–322, 496–539, 1233–1309 (reprint 1–199). *1883
Synopsis des Aeschnines. Première partie: Classification
''Bulletin de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Belgique'' 3(5):712–748. ;Birds *Observations sur les phénomènes périodique du règne animal, et particulièrement sur les migrations des oiseaux en Belgique, de 1841 à 1846 ''Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique'' 2
pdf from GDZ
;General *''Faune belge. Première partie. Indication méthodique des mammifères, oiseaux, reptiles et poissons, observés jusqu'ici en Belgique''. Faune Belge i–xii + 1–310 (1842)

Notes

References

English * * French * Coen, J., ''Michel-Edmond de Selys-Longchamps 1813–1900. Gentilhomme et démocrate'', 1982, 217 p. *N.N., ''A la mémoire de Michel Edmond Baron de Selys-Longchamps 1813–1900'', Liège, Impr. H. Vaillart-Carmanne, 1901, 51 p. * Yans, M., ''L'Atavisme d'un grand parlementaire de Léopold II : Michel Edmond Baron de Selys-Longchamps'', in : Cahiers Léopoldiens, New Series, 1959–1960, nr. 7, p. 59. *Nicole Caulier-Mathy en Nicole Haesenne-Peremans, 2008 ''Une vie au fil des jours.Journal d’un notable politicien et naturaliste, Michel-Edmond de Selys-Longchamps (1823–1900)'', 2 vol., LXV-1747 p., 25 ill., 2 genealogische tafels.(Collectie Groot in-8°).

External links

Partial bibliographyUniversity of Liége A life day by dayVirtual collection of illustrations by Selys and Severin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selys Longchamps, Edmond De 1813 births 1900 deaths 19th-century Belgian zoologists Belgian lepidopterists Belgian entomologists Belgian ornithologists Odonatologists Presidents of the Senate (Belgium) International members of the American Philosophical Society