Alphonse Amédée Trémeau de Rochebrune was a French

botanist 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 ...

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

and a

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 ...

. He was born on 18 September 1836 in Saint-Savin, and died on 23 April 1912 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 ...

Biography

The son of a curator of the Museum of

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

, he became a military surgeon and reached the rank of adjutant in 1870. After obtaining his doctorate in 1874, he travelled to Saint-Louis in Senegal. In 1878, he joined the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

as an assistant in the Laboratory of

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

, and then replaced Victor Bertin (1849–1880), as assistant naturalist in the Laboratory of

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

s and zoophytes, after Bertin's death. He held this post until his retirement in 1911. He addressed, in one hundred fifty publications, to a variety of subjects: from

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

, botany to malacology. These include his 1860 catalogue of wild flowering plants in the Department of Charente, co-written with Savatier Alexander. From 1882 to 1883, Rochebrune took part in a scientific expedition to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

and

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

, with the malacologist Jules François Mabille, during which they collected, and later described many new species of molluscs. In 1889, Rochebrune published reports on his extensive research. Much of Rochebrune's subsequent research was on the growth of

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

. Rochebrune was also the discoverer of a lamp from the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

era, in the caves of La Chaire a Calvin in

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...

Taxa named

The following

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

, currently considered to be valid, were named by Rochebrune. *'' Eledone microsicya'' (Rochebrune, 1884) *'' Leachia (Pyrgopsis)'' (Rochebrune, 1884) *''Leachia rynchophorus'' (Rochebrune, 1884) *'' Sepia'' ('' Acanthosepion'') (Rochebrune, 1884) *''Sepia'' ('' Doratosepion'')(Rochebrune, 1884) *''Sepia'' ('' Rhombosepion'') (Rochebrune, 1884) *'' Sepia trygonina'' (Rochebrune, 1884) *'' Pleurobranchus digueti'' Rochebrune, 1895

Taxon described by him

*See :Taxa named by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune

References

Sources

* Kraig Adler (2007). ''Contributions to the History of Herpetology. Volume 2'', Society for the study of amphibians and reptiles : 389 p. * Benoît Dayrat (2003). ''Les Botanistes et la Flore de France, trois siècles de découvertes.'' Publication scientifiques du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle : 690 p. * Philippe Jaussaud & Édouard R. Brygoo (2004). ''Du Jardin au Muséum en 516 biographies''. Muséum national d’histoire naturelle de Paris : 630 p. * :fr:Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochebrune, Alphonse Tremeau de French malacologists French zoologists 19th-century French biologists Teuthologists 1912 deaths 1836 births 19th-century French botanists