Pierre-Médard Diard (19 March 1794 – 16 February 1863) was a French
naturalist and
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
.
Diard studied
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
and
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
under
Georges Cuvier
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
and assisted him in researches on the development of the
foetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...
and on the eggs of
quadrupeds. In 1816, he traveled to the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and aroun ...
.
[Deleuze, J. P. F. (1823]
''History and description of the Royal Museum of Natural History, published by order of the administration of that establishment (Volume 2)''
Paris, A. Royer
Journeys in South and Southeast Asia
In May 1818, he met
Alfred Duvaucel
Alfred Duvaucel (1793, Évreux, Eure – 1824, Madras, India) was a French naturalist and explorer. He was the stepson of Georges Cuvier.
Journeys in South and Southeast Asia
In December 1817, Duvaucel left France for British India and arrived ...
in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...
. Together, they moved to
Chandernagore
Chandannagar french: Chandernagor ), also known by its former name Chandernagore and French name Chandernagor, is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is par ...
, then a trading post of the
French East India Company
The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in t ...
, and started collecting animals and plants for the
Paris Museum of Natural History
The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French language, French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne University (alliance), Sorbonne Universities ...
. They employed hunters who supplied them daily with live and dead specimens, which they described, drew and classified. They also received objects from local ''
rajah
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attes ...
s'' and went hunting themselves. In the garden of their compound, they cultivated local plants and kept
water bird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from sea ...
s in a basin. In June 1818, they sent their first consignment to Paris, containing a skeleton of a
Ganges river dolphin
The Ganges river dolphin (''Platanista gangetica'') is a species of toothed whale classified in the family Platanistidae. It lives in the Ganges and related rivers of South Asia, namely in the countries of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. It is rela ...
, a head of a
Tibetan ox, various species of little known birds, some mineral samples and a drawing of a
''tapir from Sumatra'' that they had studied in
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...
menagerie
A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoological garden.
The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to the ...
. Later consignments included a live
Cashmere goat, crested pheasants and various birds.
In December 1818,
Thomas Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is b ...
invited them to accompany him on his journeys and pursue their collections in places, where he would have to go officially. He offered to establish a menagerie in his
Bencoulen residence. By end of December, they left with him on the basis that would equally share the collected animals. In
''Pulo-Pinang'', they collected two new fish species and some birds. In
''Achem'', they collected only a few plants, insects, birds, snakes, fish and two deer. In
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site s ...
, they bought a bear, an
argus and some other birds. In
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, they obtained a
dugong
The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its close ...
, of which they prepared drawings and a description that Raffles sent to the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
. These were published in 1820 by
Everard Home
Sir Everard Home, 1st Baronet, FRS (6 May 1756, in Kingston upon Hull – 31 August 1832, in London) was a British surgeon.
Home was born in Kingston-upon-Hull and educated at Westminster School. He gained a scholarship to Trinity College, ...
and planned for publication in the ''Histoire naturelle des mammifères'' by
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories. ...
and
Frédéric Cuvier
Georges-Frédéric Cuvier (28 June 1773 – 24 July 1838) was a French zoologist and paleontologist. He was the younger brother of noted naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier.
Career
Frederic was the head keeper of the menagerie at the Muséu ...
. After their arrival at Bencoulen in August 1819, Raffles requisitioned most of their collection and left them copies of their drawings, descriptions and notes. Diard and Duvaucel took leave, sent their share to Calcutta and parted.
Diard set off to
Batavia. From Java, he sent a large consignment to Paris comprising 95 mammal species, 126 bird species, about 100 snake species including skeletons and skins of
Malayan tapir
The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List si ...
and
Javan rhinoceros
The Javan rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sondaicus''), also known as the Javan rhino, Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is a very rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same g ...
. He proceeded to
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...
.
By spring 1824, he was assumed to sojourn in
Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
.
In 1826, he traveled and collected in the areas of
Banjarmasin
)
, translit_lang1 = Other
, translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi
, translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين
, settlement_type = City
, motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...
,
Pontianak
Pontianak or Khuntien is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, founded first as a trading port on the island of Borneo, occupying an area of 118.31 km2 in the delta of the Kapuas River at a point where it is joined ...
and
Sungei Barito. In 1829, he joined the Natural History Commission of the
Dutch Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...
and was appointed its head in 1832.
[Das, I. (2004]
Collecting in the "Land Below the Wind", Herpetological Explorations of Borneo
. Bonner zoologische Beiträge, Band 52 (2003), Heft 3/4: 231–243
Diard travelled in the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and aroun ...
until 1848. He collected a number of natural history specimens, some of which were sent back the
Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director.
Biography
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob Temm ...
at
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
. He also helped contribute with the early Roman Catholic missionaries in New France.
Publications

In February 1820, the ''
Asiatick Society (Calcutta, India)'' published an article jointly written by Diard and Duvaucel entitled "Sur une nouvelle espèce de Sorex — Sorex Glis" including a drawing of a
common treeshrew
The common treeshrew (''Tupaia glis'') is a small mammal in the treeshrew family Tupaiidae, and is native to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it remains common and displays some adaptability ...
.
Legacy
The Paris Museum of Natural History received nearly 2000 animals collected jointly by
Diard and Duvaucel during their stay of more than a year in the
Greater Sunda Islands
The Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesian and Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, are internationally recognise ...
. Their consignments comprised 88 mammal species, 630 bird species, 59 reptile species and contained stuffed animals, skins, skeletons, drawings and descriptions of such notable species as the
Malayan tapir
The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List si ...
,
Sumatran rhinoceros
The Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), also known as the Sumatran rhino, hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant species of rhinoceros. It is the o ...
,
Javan rhinoceros
The Javan rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sondaicus''), also known as the Javan rhino, Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is a very rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same g ...
,
gibbon
Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast Indi ...
s,
leaf monkeys, two previously unknown
fruit bat
Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera ( bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera '' Acerodon'' and '' Pteropus''— flying foxes. They are the only member of the ...
species,
tree shrews,
skunk
Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...
s,
binturong
The binturong (''Arctictis binturong'') (, ), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining po ...
and
sun bear
The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighin ...
.
Several of these species were first described by French zoologists working at the Museum.
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (6 March 1784 – 4 June 1838) was a French zoologist and author. He was the son of Nicolas Desmarest and father of Eugène Anselme Sébastien Léon Desmarest. Desmarest was a disciple of Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Br ...
described the
Malayan tapir
The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List si ...
in 1819; the
Sunda stink badger
The Sunda stink badger (''Mydaus javanensis''), also called the Javan stink badger, teledu, Malay stink badger, Malay badger, Indonesian stink badger and Sunda skunk, is a mammal native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite the common name, stink ba ...
and ''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus bondar'', a subspecies of the
Asian palm civet
The Asian palm civet (''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus''), also called common palm civet, toddy cat and musang, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. Since 2008, it is IUCN Red Listed as Least Concern as it accommodates to a broad ran ...
in 1820; the
Sunda pangolin
The Sunda pangolin (''Manis javanica''), also known as the Malayan or Javan pangolin, is a species of pangolin.
It is found throughout Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the islands of ...
, the
Javan rhinoceros
The Javan rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sondaicus''), also known as the Javan rhino, Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is a very rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same g ...
, the
Malayan weasel
The Malayan weasel (''Mustela nudipes'') or Malay weasel is a weasel species native to the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Description
The Malayan weasel is reddish-bro ...
, and the genus of ''
Semnopithecus'' in 1822.
In 1821, Raffles published descriptions of the species jointly collected by Diard and Duvaucel in Sumatra, including first descriptions of the
sun bear
The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighin ...
, the
binturong
The binturong (''Arctictis binturong'') (, ), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining po ...
, the
crab-eating macaque
The crab-eating macaque (''Macaca fascicularis''), also known as the long-tailed macaque and referred to as the cynomolgus monkey in laboratories, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. A species of macaque, the crab-eating macaqu ...
, the
Sumatran surili, the
siamang gibbon
The siamang (, ; ''Symphalangus syndactylus'') is an arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching in height, a ...
, the
silvery lutung, the
large bamboo rat, the
large treeshrew and the
cream-coloured giant squirrel.

Diard collected the first specimen of the Borneo freshwater crocodile first described as ''
Crocodylus raninus'' by
Salomon Müller Salomon Müller (7 April 1804 – 29 December 1864) was a German natural history, naturalist. He was born in Heidelberg, and died in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Müller was the son of a saddler in Heidelberg. Along with Heinrich Boie and Heinrich Christi ...
and
Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist.
Early life and education
Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimula ...
in 1844. Schlegel also first described several snake species collected by Diard in Borneo.
Diard is commemorated in the
scientific names of a number of animals:
* Bornean clouded leopard, ''
Neofelis diardi
The Sunda clouded leopard (''Neofelis diardi'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to Borneo and Sumatra. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2015, as the total effective population probably consists of fewer than 10,000 mature ...
'', first described by
Georges Cuvier
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...
in 1823;
* the short-nosed fruit bat ''Pachysoma diardii'' described by
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories. ...
in 1828 is synonymous to the subspecies ''
Cynopterus titthaecheilus titthaecheilus'';
* the colourful
cicada
The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...
''
Carineta diardi
''Carineta diardi'' is a species of insects in the order Hemiptera
Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leaf ...
'' first described by
Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville
Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville, also known as F. E. Guerin, (12 October 1799, in Toulon – 26 January 1874, in Paris) was a French entomologist.
Life and work
Guérin-Méneville changed his surname from Guérin in 1836. He was the author ...
in 1829;
* the
black-bellied malkoha, ''Phaenicophaeus diardi'', first described by
René Primevère Lesson
René ('' born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus.
René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminin ...
in 1830;
* Diard's trogon, ''
Harpactes diardii'', first described by
Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director.
Biography
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob Temm ...
in 1832;
* the
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
''
Coilodera diardi'' synonymous to ''Macronota diardi'' first described by
Hippolyte Louis Gory and
Achille Rémy Percheron in 1833;
* the
spider
Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...
''
Hyllus diardi'' first described by
Charles Athanase Walckenaer
Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist.
Biography
Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow. In 1793 he was appointed head of t ...
in 1837;
* Diard's blindsnake, ''
Argyrophis diardii
''Argyrophis diardii'', known commonly as Diard's blind snake, the Indochinese blind snake, the large blind snake, or the large worm snake, is a species of harmless snake in the family Typhlopidae. The species is endemic to South Asia and Southea ...
'', first described by
Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist.
Early life and education
Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimula ...
in 1839;
* the Siamese fireback, ''
Lophura diardi
The Siamese fireback (''Lophura diardi''), also known as Diard's fireback, is a fairly large, approximately long, pheasant. The male has a grey plumage with an extensive facial caruncle, crimson legs and feet, ornamental black crest feathers, r ...
'', first described by
Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte.
Life and career
...
in 1856;
* the plantain squirrel, ''Callosciurus diardii'', described by
Fredericus Anna Jentink
Fredericus Anna Jentink (20 August 1844, Wymbritseradeel – 4 November 1913, Leiden)Fredericus Anna Jentink (1844 - 1913). In: Notes from the Leyden Museum Vol. 36, 1913. p 254 was a Dutch zoologist.
Biography
In 1875, he became curator at the ...
in 1879 has been classified a subspecies of ''
Callosciurus notatus'';
* the rat ''Rattus diardii'' described by Jentink in 1880 is synonymous to the
Tanezumi rat;
* the
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...
''
Sewellia diardi
''Sewellia'' is a genus of fish in the family Balitoridae (River Loaches) found in Laos and Vietnam.Kottelat, M. (2012)Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). ''Raffles Bulletin of Z ...
'' first described by Roberts in 1998
Diard also collected the first specimen of a
saltwater crocodile
The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been list ...
from
Brunei
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diard, Pierre-Medard
1794 births
1863 deaths
French naturalists
French explorers
Explorers of Asia