Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French
zoologist
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
, specialising in
arthropod
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...
s. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the
French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom after recognising a rare
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
he found in the prison, ''
Necrobia ruficollis.''
He published his first important work, , in 1796, and was eventually employed by the . His foresighted work on arthropod
systematics
Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...
and
taxonomy
image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy
Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...
gained him respect and accolades, including being asked to write the volume on insects for
George Cuvier's monumental work, , the only part not by Cuvier himself.
Latreille was considered the foremost
entomologist of his time, and was described by one of his pupils as "the prince of entomologists".
Biography
Early life
Pierre André Latreille was born on 29 November 1762 in the town of
Brive, then in the
province of Limousin, as the
illegitimate child of Jean Joseph Sahuguet d'Amarzit, général baron d'Espagnac, who never recognised him, and an unknown mother, who abandoned him at birth; the surname "Latreille" was formally granted to him in 1813, and derives from a
nickname
A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
of unclear provenance.
Latreille, effectively orphaned from his earliest age, but had influential protectors – first a physician, then a merchant from Brive, and later a baron (after the baron's death), who brought him to Paris in 1778.
He studied initially in Brive and in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
at the attached to the
University of Paris to become a
priest.
He entered the of
Limoges
Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...
in 1780, and left as a
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions.
Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
in 1786. Despite being qualified to preach, Latreille later wrote that he had never carried out his functions as a minister, although for a few years he signed the letters he wrote "" ("the Reverend Latreille") or "" ("Latreille, Priest").
Even during his studies, Latreille had taken on an interest in
natural history, visiting the planted by
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and
catching insects around Paris. He received lessons on
botany
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
from
René Just Haüy
René Just Haüy () FRS MWS FRSE (28 February 1743 – 1 June 1822) was a French priest and mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre-Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Due to his innovative work on cryst ...
, which brought him in contact with
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biologi ...
.
''Necrobia ruficollis''

After the fall of the and the start of the
French Revolution, the
Civil Constitution of the Clergy was declared in 1790, which required priests to swear an oath of allegiance to the state. Latreille failed to do so and was therefore imprisoned in November 1793 under threat of execution.
When the prison's doctor inspected the prisoners, he was surprised to find Latreille scrutinising a beetle on the dungeon floor.
When Latreille explained that it was a rare insect, the physician was impressed, and sent the insect to a 15-year-old local naturalist,
Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent. Bory de St.-Vincent knew Latreille's work, and managed to obtain the release of Latreille and one of his cell-mates.
Latreille and Bory de Saint-Vincent remained life-long friends.
[Bory de Saint-Vincent, ''Correspondence'', published and annotated by Philippe Lauzun, Maison d’édition et imprimerie moderne, 1908. (Read online)] The beetle had been described by
Johan Christian Fabricius
Johann Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is co ...
in 1775, but recognising it had saved Latreille from likely demise, as all the other inmates were dead within one month.
Thereafter, Latreille lived as a teacher and corresponded with various entomologists, including Fabricius. In 1796, and with Fabricius' encouragement, Latreille published his at his own expense. He was briefly placed under
house arrest
House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...
in 1797, and his books were confiscated, but the influence of
Georges Cuvier
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...
,
Bernard Germain de Lacépède and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (who all held chairs of zoology at the recently instituted ) succeeded in freeing Latreille.
In 1798, Latreille was appointed to the Muséum, where he worked alongside Lamarck, curating the arthropod collections, and published a number of zoological works.
First Empire
Following the death of the entomologist
Guillaume-Antoine Olivier in 1814, Latreille succeeded him as titular member of the .
In the following few years, Latreille was especially productive, producing important papers for the , all of the volume on arthropods for
George Cuvier's ''
Le Règne Animal'' ("The Animal Kingdom", 1817), and hundreds of entries in the on entomological subjects.
In 1819, Latreille 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
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. As Lamarck became blind, Latreille took on an increasing proportion of his teaching and research work. In 1821, Latreille was made a knight of the .
In 1829 he succeeded Lamarck as professor of entomology.
Later years
From 1824, Latreille's health deteriorated. He handed his lectures over to
Jean Victoire Audouin and took on several assistants for his research work, including
Amédée Louis Michel Lepeletier,
Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville and
Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville.
He was instrumental in the founding of the , and served as its honorary president.
Latreille's wife became ill in 1830 and died in May of that year; the date of Latreille's marriage is unclear, and his request to be released from his
vow of celibacy was never acknowledged.
He resigned his position at the museum on 10 April 1832, in order to move to the country and thereby avoid the
cholera epidemic. He returned to Paris in November, and died of
bladder disease on 6 February 1833.
He had no children but was survived by a niece whom he had adopted.
Commemoration
The raised the money to pay for a monument to Latreille. This was erected over Latreille's grave at
Père Lachaise Cemetery (39th division), and comprised a
obelisk with various inscriptions, including one to the beetle which had saved Latreille's life: "" ("''Necrobia ruficollis'', Latreille's saviour").
As testimony to the high esteem in which Latreille was held, many books were
dedicated to him, and up to 163 species were named in his honour between 1798 and 1850.
Taxa commemorating Latreille include:
* ''
Lumbrineris latreilli''
Audouin & H. Milne-Edwards, 1833
* ''
Cecrops latreillii''
Leach, 1816
* ''
Apseudes latreillii''
(H. Milne-Edwards, 1828)
* ''
Orbinia latreillii''
(Audouin & H. Milne-Edwards, 1833)
* ''
Latreillia''
Roux, 1830
* ''
Cilicaea latreillei''
Leach, 1818
* ''
Bittium latreillii''
(Payraudeau, 1826)
* ''
Macrophthalmus latreillei''
(Desmarest, 1822)
* ''
Eurypodius latreillei''
Guérin, 1828
* ''
Sphex latreillei''
Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1831
Work

Latreille produced a significant body of scientific work, extending across several fields. He was described by
Johan Christian Fabricius
Johann Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is co ...
as ("the foremost entomologist of our time"), and by
Jean Victoire Audouin as ("the prince of entomology").
Taxonomy and systematics
Latreille was significant as the first person to attempt a natural classification of the arthropods.
His "eclectic method" of
systematics
Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...
incorporated evidence from all available characters without assuming a pre-defined goal; Latreille repeatedly dismissed
anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism ( ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity on the planet. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. From a ...
and
teleology.
As well as many
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
and countless
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
, the names of many higher
taxa are also attributable to Latreille, including
Thysanura,
Siphonaptera,
Ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a Class (biology), class of the crustacean, Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 33,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant taxon, extant) have been identified,Brandão, S.N.; Antoni ...
a,
Stomatopoda,
Xiphosura, and
Myriapoda.
Typification
Although Latreille named many species, his primary interest was in describing genera.
He introduced the concept of the "
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
", a species to which the name of a genus is firmly attached.
Similarly, he favoured the method of naming families after one of the constituent genera, rather than some defining feature of the group, implicitly designating a
type genus for the family.
References
External links
Works by Pierre André Latreilleat the
Biodiversity Heritage Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latreille, Pierre Andre
1762 births
1833 deaths
French zoologists
French taxonomists
French arachnologists
French carcinologists
French entomologists
Hymenopterists
People from Brive-la-Gaillarde
University of Paris alumni
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
French Roman Catholics
Catholic clergy scientists
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
18th-century French scientists
18th-century French zoologists
19th-century French zoologists
Articles containing video clips
National Museum of Natural History (France) people
International members of the American Philosophical Society