Fernand Angel (2 February 1881,

Douzy Douzy () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. In September 2015 it absorbed the former commune of Mairy. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ar ...

– 13 July 1950,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a French

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 ...

. In 1905 he began work as Assistant Preparator under

Léon Vaillant Léon Louis Vaillant (; 11 November 1834 – 24 November 1914) was a French zoologist. He is most famous for his work in the areas of herpetology, malacology, and ichthyology. In 1854 he graduated from the College d'Arras, followed by studie ...

and François Mocquard 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 Paris. Later on, he became

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the herpetology collection at the museum, a position he maintained for several decades until the time of his death in 1950.SSARHerps
(biography). He specialized in herpetofauna native to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

and the French colonies of

Western Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurita ...

. Most of his scientific papers were in the field of systematics. For four years (1914–1918) he served in the

French Army in World War I During World War I, France was one of the Triple Entente powers allied against the Central Powers. Although fighting occurred worldwide, the bulk of the conflict in Europe occurred in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Alsace-Lorraine along what cam ...

Published works

He performed illustrative work for the volume on reptiles in the series "''Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale''", complementing the other drawings done by

Marie Firmin Bocourt Marie Firmin Bocourt (19 April 1819 – 4 February 1904) was a French zoologist and artist. As a young man, he worked as a preparateur for the zoologist Gabriel Bibron (1805–1848), later serving as a museum artist. In 1861, he was sent to Tha ...

. Other noted works by Fernand Angel are: * ''Contribution à l'étude systématique des lézards appartenant aux genres Uroplatus et Brookesia'', 1929 - Contribution to the systematics of lizards belonging to the genera ''

Uroplatus ''Uroplatus'' is a genus of geckos, commonly referred to as leaf-tail geckos or flat-tailed geckos, which are endemic to Madagascar and its coastal islands, such as Nosy Be. They are nocturnal, insectivorous lizards found exclusively in prim ...

'' and ''

Brookesia ''Brookesia'' is a genus of chameleons, endemic to Madagascar, that range from small to very small in size, and are known collectively as leaf chameleons (though this name also commonly is used for species in the genera ''Rieppeleon'' and ''Rham ...

''. * ''Reptiles et amphibiens'', 1946 - Reptiles and amphibians. * ''Vie et mœurs des amphibiens'', 1947 - Life and behaviour of amphibians. * ''Petit atlas des amphibiens et reptiles'', 1949 - Small atlas of amphibians and reptiles. * ''Vie et mœurs des serpents'', 1950 - Life and behaviour of snakes.

Eponymy

* Angel's caecilian, '' Geotrypetes angeli''. * Angel's keelback, ''

Rhabdophis ''Rhabdophis'' is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. Species in the genus ''Rhabdophis'' are generally called keelback snakes, and are found primarily in Southeast Asia. Toxicity ''Rhabdophis'' is often thou ...

angeli''.IUCN Red List
''Rhabdophis angeli''. * Angel's chameleon, ''Furcifer angeli''. * Angel's dwarf gecko, ''Lygodactylus decaryi''. * Angel's five-toed skink, '' Lacertaspis lepesmei''. * Angel's kukri snake, ''

Oligodon ''Oligodon'' is genus of colubrid snakes that was first described by the Austrian zoologist Fitzinger in 1826. This genus is widespread throughout central and tropical Asia. The snakes of this genus are commonly known as kukri snakes.. Descri ...

macrurus''. * Angel's mountain keelback, ''

Paratapinophis ''Trimerodytes praemaxillaris'' is a species of snake in the subfamily Natricinae of the Family (biology), family Colubridae. It is also known Common name, commonly as Angel's mountain keelback, Angel's stream snake, and the brown stream snake. T ...

praemaxillaris''. * Angel's petite gecko, ''Paragehyra petiti''. * Angel's writhing skink, '' Lygosoma angeli''.The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles
by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson. ("Angel", p. 9). * The stone loach ''

Triplophysa angeli ''Triplophysa angeli'' is a species of Nemacheilidae, stone loach in the genus ''Triplophysa''. It is endemic to the Yalong River in Sichuan, China. It grows to Fish measurement, SL. Etymology The Specific name (zoology), specific name honours ...

'' ( P. W. Fang, 1941) is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angel, Fernand 1881 births 1950 deaths People from Ardennes (department) French herpetologists 20th-century French zoologists