Palisot de Beauvois

Who was Palisot de Beauvois?

Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois 27 July 1752 Arras - 21 January 1820 Paris, was a French naturalist.

Palisot collected insects in Oware, Benin, Saint Domingue, and the United States, during the period 1786–1797. Trained as a botanist, Palisot published a significant entomological paper entitled, "Insectes Recueillis en Afrique et en Amerique". Together with Frederick Valentine Melsheimer, he was one of the first entomologists to collect and describe American insects. He described a large number of common insects and suggested an ordinal classification of Insects. He described many Scarabaeidae as well as illustrating them for the first time. The study included 39 Scarabaeus species, 17 Copris species, 7 Trox species, 4 Cetonia and 4 Trichius. Familiar beetles as Canthon viridis, Macrodactylus angustatus and Osmoderma scabra were first described by him. Many of the specimens that were labelled from America, were from Africa, and vice versa. He created type localities in America for species such as Dynastes hercules, well outside the natural range.

Palisot’s expeditions were described inter alia by Chase and Merrill and a summary is provided here to explain the uncertain origins of his material. Palisot trained as a lawyer but pursued postgraduate studies in botany under Lestiboudois in Lille and Jussieu in Paris.