André Marie Constant Duméril | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1 January 1774 (1774-01) |
| Died | 14 August 1860 (1860-08-15) (aged 86) |
| Education | University of Rouen |
| Known for | Zoologie analytique |
| Children | Auguste Duméril |
| Awards | Académie des Sciences,American Philosophical Society, commander of theLégion d'Honneur |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology |
| Institutions | Muséum national d'histoire naturelle |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Duméril |
André Marie Constant Duméril (1 January 1774 – 14 August 1860) was a Frenchzoologist. He was professor ofanatomy at theMuséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became professor ofherpetology andichthyology. His sonAuguste Duméril was also a zoologist, and theauthor citation Duméril is used for both André and his son.
André Marie Constant Duméril was born on 1 January 1774 inAmiens and died on 14 August 1860 in Paris.
He became a doctor at a young age, obtaining, at 19 years, theprévot of anatomy at the medical school ofRouen. In 1800, he left forParis and collaborated in the drafting of thecomparative anatomy lessons ofGeorges Cuvier.
He replaced Cuvier at the Central School of thePanthéon and had, as his colleague,Alexandre Brongniart. In 1801, he gave courses to the medical school of Paris. Under theRestauration, he was elected a member of theAcadémie des Sciences (French Academy of Sciences) and after 1803 succeededLacépède, who was occupied by his political offices, as professor of herpetology and ichthyology at theMuséum national d'histoire naturelle. Duméril only officially received this chair in 1825, after the death of Lacépède.
He published hisZoologie analytique in 1806. This covered the whole of the animal kingdom and shows the relations between genera as then distinguished, but not amongspecies. He was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society inPhiladelphia in 1813.[1] In 1832,Gabriel Bibron (1806–1848), who became his assistant, was given the task of describing the species for an expanded version ofZoologie analytique, whileNicolaus Michael Oppel (1782–1820) assisted him with a revised higher-ordersystematics. After the death of Bibron, he was replaced byAuguste Duméril, André's son. However, Bibron's death delayed the publication of the new work for 10 years. In 1851, the two Dumérils, father and son, published theCatalogue méthodique de la collection des reptiles (although Auguste was apparently the true author) and in 1853, André Duméril alone publishedProdrome de la classification des reptiles ophidiens. This last book proposes a classification of all the snakes in seven volumes.
Duméril, upon discovering a case of preserved fishes in the attic of the house ofGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, finally described the species that had been collected byPhilibert Commerson nearly 70 years earlier.
He then published a very important work,l’Erpétologie générale ou Histoire naturelle complète des reptiles (nine volumes, 1834–1854). In this, 1,393 species are described in detail and their anatomy, physiology, and bibliography are specified. However, Duméril maintained the amphibians among the reptiles in spite of the work ofAlexandre Brongniart orPierre André Latreille or the anatomical discoveries ofKarl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876) andJohannes Peter Müller (1801–1858).
He was interested all his life in theinsects and published several memoirs on entomology. His principal entomological work isEntomologie analytique (1860, two volumes). With his son Auguste, also a zoologist, he created the first vivarium for reptiles of theJardin des Plantes. Duméril always considered observations on animal behaviour of taxonomic significance.
After 1853, he began to cede his position to his son and he retired completely in 1857. He was made a commander of theLegion of Honour two months before his death.
