Gaston-François de Witte (12 June 1897, in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

– 1 June 1980, in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

) was a Belgian

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 ...

who discovered and described at least 24 different

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), ...

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s. During his career, he was associated with the

Royal Museum for Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) (; ; ), communicating under the name AfricaMuseum since 2018, is an ethnography and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was originally b ...

Tervuren Tervuren (; ) is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren proper, Vossem and Moorsel. On 1 January 2006, Tervuren had a total population o ...

(from 1920) and the

Museum 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 ...

in Brussels (from 1937). He is best known for his research of amphibians and reptiles found in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

, from where he collected thousands of specimens. While in central Africa, he also collected

botanical 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 ...

specimens.

Biography

Gaston-François de Witte was the son of Henry de Witte and Jeanne della Faine de Leverghem, and the grandson of Jean de Witte. As a child, he already liked

natural science 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 ...

. During his scholarship at the Bénédictins of the Abbaye de Maredsours, Gaston-François met the British zoologist

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

, who came to study fossils from Denée. They became friends and Boulenger encouraged de Witte to study reptiles. When the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out, de Witte fled to Boulenger's house in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. There, he learned English. He worked at the

British Museum of Natural history The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

where Boulenger taught him technical preparations of zoological collections. On 9 February 1916, de Witte enlisted himself voluntarily. After the war, he studied at the Free University of Bruxelles. There, he would get his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. In 1920, he was temporarily associated with the

of Tervuren, to replace, between 1920 and 1921,

Henri Schouteden Henri Schouteden (9 July 1881 in Brussels – 15 November 1972 in Brussels) was a Belgian zoologist, ornithologist and entomologist who undertook numerous expeditions into the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. Works (All in French) *Schouteden, H. (191 ...

. In 1922, he married

Marguerite del Marmol Marguerite may refer to: People * Marguerite (given name), including a list of people with the name Places *Marguerite, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community *Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula * Marguerite Island, Adélie Land, Antarctica ...

. From November 1924 to September 1925, he went, partially with the company of Schouteden, on a trip to explore the

. He brought back specimens, mostly snakes and fish, but also an ethnographic ensemble and many photos, leaving everything to the Museum of the Belgian Congo. Nominated in 1927 as a definitive member, after

Jean-Marie Derscheid Jean-Marie Eugène Derscheid (19 May 1901, Sterrebeek – 13 March 1944) was a Belgian zoologist who focused much of his professional interest on Africa. He was a world expert on breeding exotic waterfowl in captivity, authored scientific artic ...

left, he became in 1936 head of the

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

entomology 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 ...

sections. From August 1930 to September 1931, he went on a mission to Katanga, finding zoological and botanical specimens, but also cultural artifacts. From August 1933 to 26 July 1935, he explored the Parc national Albert in the Congo, in the region of

Kivu Kivu is the name for a large region in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that borders Lake Kivu. It was a ''Région'' (read 'province') of the country under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko from 1966 to 1988. As an official ''Région'' ...

Honorifics

*Médaille de la Victoire 1914-1918 (28 septembre 1919) *Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1914-1918 (28 septembre 1919) *Chevalier de l’Ordre de Léopold II (25 décembre 1926) *Chevalier de l’Ordre royal du Lion (8 avril 1938) *Chevalier de l’Ordre de Léopold (8 avril 1946) *Médaille civique de Première Classe (6 juin 1946) *Commandeur de l’Ordre de Léopold II (5 mars 1952) *Commandeur de l’Ordre royal du Lion (18 octobre 1958) *Grand Officier de l’Ordre de Léopold (8 avril 1965) He has also been welcomed by foreign societies. *Honorary Foreign Member of the

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is an international learned society devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology (study of fish) and herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). The primary emphases of th ...

(1946) *Member of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature (1958) *Honorary Life Member of the Herpetological African Association (1968) He has also been awarded the Prix Selys Longchamps (septième période: 1936–1941) from the Classe des Sciences de l’Académie royale de Belgique.

Eponymy

*"Witte's beaked snake", '' Letheobia wittei'', described by Mme. Rolande Roux-Estève in 1974. *"Witte's five-toed skink", '' Leptosiaphos dewittei'', circumscribed by

Arthur Loveridge Arthur Loveridge (28 May 1891 – 16 February 1980) was a British people, British biologist and Herpetology, herpetologist who wrote about animals of East Africa, particularly Tanzania, and of New Guinea. He gave Binomial nomenclature, scientific ...

in 1934. *"Witte's spider gecko", ''Agamura misonnei'', synonymous with '' Rhinogekko misonnei'' (Misonne's spider gecko), described by de Witte in 1973.The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles
by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson. ("De Witte", p. 71; "Witte", p. 288).

Selected works

* ''Batraciens et reptiles'', 1930. * ''Revision d'un groupe de Colubridae africains. Genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus et formes affines'', 1947. * ''Amphibiens et reptiles'', 1948. * ''Genera des serpents du Congo et du Ruanda-Urundi'', 1962 – Genera of snakes of the Congo and

Ruanda-Urundi Ruanda-Urundi (), later Rwanda-Burundi, was a geopolitical entity, once part of German East Africa, that was occupied by troops from the Belgian Congo during the East African campaign in World War I and was administered by Belgium under milit ...

. * ''Les caméléons de l'Afrique centrale : république démocratique du Congo, République du Rwanda et Royaume du Burundi''. 1965 –

Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

s of central Africa; the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. the Republic of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

and the Kingdom of

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

.OCLC Classify
(published works).

References

Belgian herpetologists 1897 births 1980 deaths Scientists from Antwerp 20th-century Belgian zoologists {{Belgium-scientist-stub