Auguste Henri André Duméril (30 November 1812 – 12 November 1870) was a French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. His father,

André Marie Constant Duméril André Marie Constant Duméril (1 January 1774 – 14 August 1860) was a French zoologist. He was professor of anatomy at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became professor of herpetology and ichthyology. Hi ...

(1774-1860), was also a zoologist. In 1869 he was elected as a member of the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at ...

. Duméril studied at 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 ...

, and in 1844 became an associate professor of

comparative physiology Comparative physiology is a subdiscipline of physiology that studies and exploits the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary physiology and environmental physiology. Many uni ...

at the university. From 1857, he was a professor of

herpetology 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 ...

and

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Oct ...

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. In 1851, with his father, he published ''Catalogue méthodique de la collection des Reptiles''. With zoologist

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 Thail ...

(1819–1904), he collaborated on a project called ''Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale'', a publication that was the result of Bocourt's scientific expedition to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and Central America from 1864 to 1866. The section on reptiles is considered to be Dumeril's best written effort in the field of

. Duméril died in 1870 during the siege of Paris, and ''Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale'' was continued by Bocourt,

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 ...

(1834–1914) and other scientists. As part of the ''Collection des Suites à Buffon'', he issued a two-volume ichthyological study titled '' Histoire naturelle des poissons, ou Ichtyologie générale'' (1865, 1870), research that complemented the works of

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...

(1769–1832) and

Achille Valenciennes Achille Valenciennes (9 August 1794 – 13 April 1865) was a French zoologist. Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. His study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology ...

(1794–1865) by describing species not covered by the two famous naturalists. Duméril also conducted significant research involving the

axolotl The axolotl (; from nci, āxōlōtl ), ''Ambystoma mexicanum'', is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. Axolotls are unusual among amphibians in that they reach adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. I ...

(''Ambystoma mexicanum'').Herpetological Osteopathology: Annotated Bibliography of Amphibians and Reptiles
by Hans-Peter Schultze, Rodrigo Pellegrini

Tribute

'' Saurogobio dumerili'' Bleeker 1871 was named in honor of Duméril, who invited Bleeker to examine Chinese cyprinids in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle’s collection.

References

* "Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

". {{DEFAULTSORT:Dumeril, Auguste 1812 births 1870 deaths 19th-century French zoologists French ichthyologists French herpetologists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery National Museum of Natural History (France) people Scientists from Paris

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References