Eugène Le Moult (31 December 1882,

Quimper Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a Communes of France, commune and Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the ...

– 26 January 1967,

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 ...

) was a French

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

specialised in butterflies; hunter, businessman and collector. Le Moult grew up in the tropical prison colony of

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

, where his cash-strapped organic-farmer father had taken a post to develop the road network. Here the adolescent discovered the beauty of the area's ''

Morpho Morpho may refer to: * ''Morpho'' (genus), a genus of butterflies * Morpho (VTOL), a Swiss prototype drone * Morpho (company) IDEMIA (formerly known as OT-Morpho) is a French multinational technology company headquartered in Courbevoie, Fra ...

'' butterflies, and set about hunting and selling them to mainland France. French Guiana's only butterfly exporter from 1903 to 1920, Le Moult turned his business into the country's third largest industry, after gold and precious woods. To enlarge his collection he started to recruit hunters. In Guyana, at the time, the question of labour was simple: you had to use convicts. Therefore, for those men in "striped shirts", hunting butterflies became the prize for good conduct. The

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable charac ...

movie '' Papillon'' references this. Three years after moving back to Paris in 1908, Le Moult had the fourth largest collection of butterflies in the world, after those in museums in Washington and London.

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

(Showa Emperor of Japan),

Sergei Khrushchev Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev (; 2 July 1935 – 18 June 2020) was a Soviet-born American engineer and the second son of the Cold War-era Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev with his wife Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva. He moved to the United States in 19 ...

(son of the Soviet premier) and

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

(author of ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

'') were amongst his Parisian ''cabinet'' clients. In fifty years, 20 million insects passed through his business, of which a thousand carry his name: the "Le Moulti". Le Moult was a renowned specialist of ''Morpho'' butterflies, and wrote—in association with Pierre Réal—the first revision of the taxon: ''Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale'', Paris 1962-1963. This two-volume work with 20 plates in colour and 62 in black and white was until recently the classic monograph on the butterfly subfamily

Morphinae The Morphinae are a subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfa ...

. Seventy-five

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), ...

are placed in eight

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

, and the work generated 409 new names and made 750 names

available In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at a ...

as subspecific and

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

names. This is far more than most ''Morpho'' specialists accept and the motivation may have been commercial (Le Moult published his own work). It is, however, a meticulous species-level classification, describes dozens of subgeneric taxa, illustrates the adults and male genitalia for all species, and gives an account of

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

specimens. Le Moult also ensured the publication of journals ''

Miscellanea Entomologica ''Miscellanea Entomologica'' was a French entomology, entomological scientific journal. It was originally published by Eugène Barthe and established in 1892. Beginning The first issue of ''Miscellanea Entomologica'' was published in a larger f ...

'' (founded by Eugène Barthe (1862–1945) and continued by

Sciences Nat Sciences Nat was the academic publisher specialising in entomology of the Societé Sciences Nat. The society was established in 1971 and based in the rue de la Mare in Paris. Three years later it moved to the rue des Alouettes and later to Venet ...

) and '' Novitates Entomologicae'' from 1931 to 1946. But above all he published a French edition of the work of Adalbert Seitz (1860–1938) under the title ''Les Macrolépidoptères du Globe'' in 16 volumes and 4 supplements. Le Moult's exploits were popular in French mass market publications of the mid-1950s, including an extensive article in ''

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. ''Paris Match'' has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism". ...

'' 2 March 1955 and a four-page graphic short story on his adventures in ''

Tintin Tintin usually refers to: * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to: Material related to ''The A ...

'' of 24 May 1956.

Works

Partial list *''Etudes sur les

Prepona ''Prepona'' is a genus of Neotropical realm, Neotropical Charaxinae, charaxine butterflies in the family Nymphalidae. They are strong fliers in tropical forests where they feed on fermenting fruits and animal dung. The underside of the wings is p ...

: lépidoptères rhopalocères américains'' E. Le Moult, Paris: Novitates Entomologicae, 1932-1933. *''Révision du genre Helicopis (Erycinidae)'' E. Le Moult, Paris: Novitates Entomologicae, 1939. *''Revision de la classification des Apaturinae de l'ancien monde: suivie d'une monographie de plusieurs genres'' E. Le Moult, Paris: Editions scientifiques du Cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult. 1950-. *with P. Réal ''Les Morpho d'Amérique du Sud et Centrale''. E. Le Moult, Paris: Editions scientifiques du Cabinet entomologique E. Le Moult. 1962-1963.

Collections

*World

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by anten ...

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences (, ; , ) is a Brussels museum dedicated to natural history. It is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (; ), itself part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSP ...

, Brussels. *

Buprestidae Buprestidae is a family (biology), family of beetles known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles because of their glossy Iridescence, iridescent colors. Larvae of this family are known as flatheaded borers. The family is among the lar ...

Bostrichidae The Bostrichidae are a family of beetles with more than 700 described species. They are commonly called auger beetles, false powderpost beetles, or horned powderpost beetles. Anatomy The head of most auger beetles cannot be seen from above, as ...

, ex parte

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. Th ...

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change. Several groups formerly tre ...

Elateridae Elateridae or click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related families Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae, which are also capable of clicking) are a family of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, sp ...

br>Thünen-Institut for Wood Research, Hamburg
*African material in the Royal Central African Museum, Tervuren.

References

*''

'': #314 2–9 April 1955 *''

'' 24 May 1956 *Constantin, R. 1992: ''Mémorial des Coléopteristes Français''. Bull. liaison Assoc. Col. rég. parisienne, Paris (Suppl. 14): 1-92 53 *Le Moult, E. 1955: ''Mes Chasses aux papillons''. : 352 p. *Lhoste, J. 1987: ''Les entomologistes français''. 1750 - 1950. INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), Paris: 1-355 221 *''

'': Main works contained in the 51 volumes publishe

*'' Novitates Entomologicae'': Main works contained in the 17 fascicules publishe

*Salazar, J. A. 1999: e Moult, E. H.''Bol. Cient. Museo Hist. Natural Manizales'' 3: 78, Portr.

External links

P.Le Moult
Project by his great-granddaughter that rereleases his original nightwear

In Dutch but portrait and ''Morpho'' collection photographs.
Eugene Le Moult's Prepona types
On the organic farmer father : a Article from 1st January 2021, French Academy of Agriculture {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Moult, Eugene French lepidopterists 1882 births 1967 deaths 20th-century French zoologists