Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchauffour de Boisduval (24 June 1799 – 30 December 1879) was a French

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post- Renaissance, t ...

, botanist, and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. He was one of the most celebrated lepidopterists of France, and was the co-founder of the

Société entomologique de France The Société entomologique de France, or French Entomological Society, is devoted to the study of insects. The society was founded in 1832 in Paris, France. The society was created by eighteen Parisian entomologists on January 31, 1832. The fi ...

. While best known abroad for his work in entomology, he started his career in botany, collecting a great number of French plant specimens and writing broadly on the topic throughout his career, including the textbook ''Flores française'' in 1828. Early in his career, he was interested in

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describe ...

and allied himself with both Jean Théodore Lacordaire and Pierre André Latreille. He was the curator of the Pierre Françoise Marie Auguste Dejean collection in Paris and described many species of beetles, as well as butterflies and moths, resulting from the voyages of the ''Astrolabe'', the expedition ship of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse and the '' Coquille'', that of

Louis Isidore Duperrey Louis-Isidore Duperrey (21 October 1786 – 25 August 1865) was a French naval officer and explorer. Biography Early life Louis-Isidore Duperrey was born in 1786. Career He joined the navy in 1802, and served as marine hydrologist to Louis Cl ...

. He left Paris, where he had lived for nearly 60 years, in 1875, to retire in Ticheville near his family. His brother was Adolphe-Armand d'Echauffour de Boisduval (September 26, 1801 – March 1, 1842), a doctor, naturalist, and health officer in their native Ticheville. Boisduval's Elateridae are in the Natural History Museum, London and the types of

Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families, with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae. ...

in Brussels Natural History Museum. His Lepidoptera were sold to

Charles Oberthür Charles Oberthür (14 September 1845 – 1 June 1924) was a French amateur entomologist specializing in lepidoptera. Biography Charles Oberthür was born in Rennes, the son of the printer François-Charles Oberthür and Marie Hamelin, and bro ...

. The Sphingidae are in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The standard author abbreviation is Boisduval when citing a zoological name.

Works

*Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchauffour Boisduval and John Eatton Le Conte, 1829-1837 ''Histoire général et iconographie des lepidoptérès et des chenilles de l’Amerique septentrionale'' (in English, ''General history and illustrations of the

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

and caterpillars of Northern America'') published in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Many of the illustrations for this work were done by John Abbot. The work was not completed until 1837. *Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchauffour Boisduval,

Jules Pierre Rambur Jules Pierre Rambur (21 July 1801 – 10 August 1870) was a French entomologist. Rambur was born in Chinon. He studied the insect fauna of Corsica and Andalusia. He was the author of ''Histoire naturelle des insectes'' (1842) amongst other works ...

and

Adolphe Hercule de Graslin Adolphe Hercule de Graslin (11 April 1802, Chateaux de Malitourne, Flée, Sarthe – 31 May 1882, Malitourne) was a French entomologist. Adolphe Hercule de Graslin specialised in Lepidoptera. He was a founding member of the Société Entomologiq ...

''Collection iconographique et historique des chenilles; ou, Description et figures des chenilles d'Europe, avec l'histoire de leurs métamorphoses, et des applications à l'agriculture'', Paris, Librairie encyclopédique de Roret, 1832. *

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

Ed. Voyage de l'Astrolabe. ''Faune entomologique de l'Océanie par le Dr Boisduval''. Tome 1: Lepidoptéres (1832); Tome 2: Coléoptères, Hémiptères, Orthoptères Névroptères, Hyménoptères et Diptères (1835). *Boisduval, J. B., Mémoire sur les Lépidoptères de Madagascar, Bourbon et Maurice. ''Nouvelles Annales du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle''. Paris 2:149-270. (1833
online here
and published by Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, 1833 *Histoire Naturelle des Insectes. Species Général des Lépidoptéres. Tome Premier Hist. nat. Ins., Spec. gén. Lépid. 1 : 1-690 (1836) *Boisduval, J. B., 1852. Lepidoptères de la Californie ''Annales de la Société Entomologique de France'' 10(2):275-324.Lepidoptères de la Californie.
/ref>

References

External links

* *
Boisduval watercoloursBoisduval's major works online at GallicaNHM Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boisduval, Jean Baptiste 1799 births 1879 deaths 19th-century French botanists 19th-century French zoologists French taxonomists French lepidopterists Presidents of the Société entomologique de France 19th-century French physicians

Works

See also

References

External links