François Mocquard (27 October 1834 – 19 March 1917) was a French

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

born in Leffond,

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Frainc-Comtou: ''Hâte-Saône''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.

. In 1860 he was named ''préparateur du physique'' after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree at the Faculty of

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

. Subsequently, he earned degrees in

physical sciences Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences". Definition ...

(1862),

mathematical science The Mathematical Sciences are a group of areas of study that includes, in addition to mathematics, those academic disciplines that are primarily mathematical in nature but may not be universally considered subfields of mathematics proper. Statist ...

s (1865) and medicine (1873). Despite being middle-aged, he made a career change, and began studying

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

in the laboratory of

Alphonse Milne-Edwards Alphonse Milne-Edwards (Paris, 13 October 1835 – Paris, 21 April 1900) was a French mammalogist, ornithologist, and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who ...

(1835-1900) at 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 ...

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 ...

. In 1884 he earned his doctorate of sciences with a thesis on the structure of the stomach in

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, afterwards working as an assistant in the

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, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

and

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

department at the museum. During his career he described numerous herpetological

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 ...

, most notably species from

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. In addition, he has several species named after him, including reptiles, '' Alluaudina mocquardi'', ''

Mochlus ''Mochlus'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus is endemic to Africa. Description Skinks of the genus ''Mochlus'' are cylindrical in shape and robust. They get the common name "writhing skinks" from the side-to-sid ...

mocquardi'', '' Tretanorhinus mocquardi'', '' Tropidophorus mocquardii'', and ''

Xenotyphlops mocquardi ''Xenotyphlops'' is a genus of snakes, the only genus of the Family (biology), family Xenotyphlopidae, comprising two species found only in Madagascar. These snakes are also known as the Malagasy blind snake. Evolution ''Xenotyphlops'' is an anc ...

'' ; and amphibians, '' Mantidactylus mocquardi'' and '' Mertensophryne mocquardi''.

Written works

*''Recherches anatomiques sur l'estomac des crustaces podophtalmaires'' (1883) – Anatomical research on the stomach of Podophthalmia. *''Note sur quelques reptiles du cap Blanc'' (1896) – Notes on some reptiles of Cap Blanc. *''Recherches sur la faune herpetologique des Iles de Borneo et de Palawan'' (1890) – Research on herpetological fauna from

and

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

. *''Notes sur quelques reptiles de Tanga, don de M. Gierra'' (1897) – Notes on some reptiles of Tanga. *''Notes herpetologiques'' (1897) – Herpetological notes. *''Le droit de la France de pecher le homard à Terre-Neuve au point de vue scientifique'' (1899) – The right of France to fish for

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

from a scientific viewpoint. *''Quelques essais de pisciculture en eau douce'' (1902) – Some essays on freshwater

pisciculture Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial animal husbandry, breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial pen (enclosure), enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled ...

. *''Synopsis des familles, genres et espèces des reptiles écailleux et des batraciens de Madagascar'' (1909) – Synopsis of families, genera and species involving scaly reptiles and amphibians of

. *''Sur un nerf cardiaque naissant des ganglions cérébroïdes chez la langouste'' (1912) – On a cardiac nerve arising from the cerebroid ganglia in lobster. *''Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique centrale. Recherches zoologiques. Troisième partie, Etudes sur les reptiles et les batraciens'' – Scientific mission to Mexico and in Central America. Zoological research. Third part, studies on the reptiles and the amphibians. by Auguste Dumeril,

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 ...

, François Mocquard, Paul Brocchi.
Softcover, Antiquariaat Junk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mocquard, Francois People from Haute-Saône 1834 births 1917 deaths French herpetologists University of Paris alumni National Museum of Natural History (France) people