Eugène Louis Simon (; 30 April 1848 – 17 November 1924) 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 ...

who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

in history, describing over 4,000 species.

Work on spiders

His most significant work was ''Histoire Naturelle des Araignées'' (1892–1903), an encyclopedic treatment of the spider genera of the world. It was published in two volumes of more than 1000 pages each, and the same number of drawings by Simon. Working at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, it took Simon 11 years to complete, while working at the same time on devising a taxonomic scheme that embraced the known taxa. Simon described a total of 4,650 species, and as of 2013 about 3,790 species are still considered valid. The

International Society of Arachnology The International Society of Arachnology (ISA) promotes the study of arachnids and the exchange of information among researchers in this field. It acts as an umbrella organisation for regional societies and individuals interested in spiders, and rel ...

offers a Simon Award recognising lifetime achievement. The

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

fossil spider species '' Cenotextricella simoni'' was named in his honor.

Work on birds

Simon also had an interest in

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

s. Simon made the first collections of birds in the ''

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

'' region of Colombia. During his career, described several species and races as well as creating the genera '' Anopetia'', '' Stephanoxis'', ''

Haplophaedia ''Haplophaedia'' is a small genus of hummingbirds, which – together with the members of the genus ''Eriocnemis'' – are known as pufflegs. They are found at low levels in humid forest, woodland and shrub at height above mean sea level, altitu ...

'' and '' Taphrolesbia''. He is commemorated by race ''simoni'' of the

swallow-tailed hummingbird The swallow-tailed hummingbird (''Eupetomena macroura'') is a species in the hummingbird family (biology), family (Trochilidae), found mainly in east-central South America. Most authorities place it in the genus ''Eupetomena'', although some plac ...

(''Eupetomena macroura''). His seminal work on hummingbirds was ''Histoire Naturelle des Trochilidae'' in 1921.

Work on plants

Simon's contributions to botany formed a relatively minor part of his work, and he should not be confounded with the French botanist Eugène Ernest Simon (1871–1967), abbreviation E.Simon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Eugene French arachnologists French entomologists Presidents of the Société entomologique de France Members of the French Academy of Sciences 1848 births 1924 deaths National Museum of Natural History (France) people