Vivian de Buffrénil is a French

histologist Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visi ...

and paleobiologist who has worked 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 ...

from 1982 to 2021. His doctorate (1980) and his doctorat d'état (1990), a diploma now replaced by the

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

, were supervised by Armand de Ricqlès. His main fields of interest include basic histological descriptions, growth dynamics as recorded in bone growth marks, and adaptation (both histological and microanatomical) of the tetrapod skeleton to a secondarily aquatic lifestyle. He is also interested in life history and population dynamics of exploited or threatened reptile taxa, especially among

Varanidae The Varanidae are a family of lizards in the superfamily Varanoidea and order Anguimorpha. The family, a group of carnivorous and frugivorous lizards, includes the living genus '' Varanus'' and a number of extinct genera more closely related ...

and

Crocodilia Crocodilia () is an order of semiaquatic, predatory reptiles that are known as crocodilians. They first appeared during the Late Cretaceous and are the closest living relatives of birds. Crocodilians are a type of crocodylomorph pseudosuchia ...

. He has published at least 92 papers, including 76 research papers, 10 reports on exploited or threatened species, and six popular papers. His first papers dealt with the skeletal growth marks in extant crocodilians, but very soon after that, he also tackled paleobiological issues, such as growth of an Eocene crocodilian then identified as ''Crocodylus'' cf. ''affinis''. Other extinct taxa on which he has published include the Ypresian crocodilian ''

Dyrosaurus ''Dyrosaurus'' is a genus of extinct crocodylomorph that lived during the early Eocene. The name ''Dyrosaurus'' comes from () the Greek for lizard or reptile, and Dyr for Djebel Dyr (mountain) close to where the type species was discovered. It ...

phosphaticus'', thalattosuchian crocodilians, the Triassic presumed ichthyosaur ''Omphalosaurus nisseri'', other ichthyosaurs, the Permian diapsid ''Claudiosaurus germaini'', champsosaurids, the placodont ''

Placodus ''Placodus'' (from , "a plate" and , "tooth") is an extinct genus of marine reptiles belonging to the order Placodontia, which swam in the shallow seas of the middle Triassic period (c. 240 million years ago). Fossils of ''Placodus'' have been f ...

'',

Plesiosauria The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million year ...

, the early snakes '' Simoliophis'' and ''

Eupodophis ''Eupodophis'' is an extinct genus of snake from the Late Cretaceous period. It has two small hind legs and is considered a transitional form between Cretaceous lizards and limbless snakes. The feature, described as vestigial, was most likely u ...

'', and the mosasaur '' Carentonosaurus mineaui'' among reptiles, and early cetaceans and sirenians among mammals. While his early papers typically dealt with only one or two taxa each, some of his most recent studies are based on comparative datasets including several taxa. His most recent contribution is a large co-edited book. As a recognized leader in bone histology, he evaluates drafts regularly for several journals and serves on the editorial board (as Reviewing Editor) of th
Comptes Rendus Palevol
of the

Académie des sciences (France) An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. On April 23, 2025, his work had been cited 5835 times in scholarly works, according t
Google Scholar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffrenil, Vivian French histologists Living people 1950 births