Guillaume-Antoine Olivier

Guillaume-Antoine Olivier (French pronunciation: [ɡijom ɑ̃twan ɔlivje]; 19 January 1756, Les Arcs near Toulon – 1 October 1814, Lyon) was a French entomologist and naturalist.

For the French naturalist and specialist on fireflies, see Ernest Olivier.
Guillaume-Antoine Olivier
Born(1756-01-19)19 January 1756
Les Arcs
Died1 October 1814(1814-10-01) (aged 58)
NationalityFrench
Scientific career
Fields

Life

Olivier studied medicine in Montpellier, where he became good friends with Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet. With Jean Guillaume Bruguière and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, he collaborated in the creation of Journal d'Histoire Naturelle (1792). Afterwards, he served as a naturalist on a 6-year scientific journey that took him to Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, Cyprus and Corfu. He returned to France in 1798 with a large collection of natural history specimens from his travels. Later, he was associated with the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort, where in 1811, he was appointed professor of zoology.[1] Olivier was a close friend of Johan Christian Fabricius and a patron of Pierre André Latreille.[2]

Although primarily an entomologist, Olivier also worked in the scientific field of herpetology, describing several new species of Asian lizards.[3] He also described a few plant species, including Prunus arabica and Quercus libani.

Works
A plate from Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des Insectes, 1808

Olivier was the author of Coléoptères Paris Baudouin 1789–1808 (11 editions),[4] Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des Insectes (1808) and Le Voyage dans l'Empire Othoman, l'Égypte et la Perse (1807). He was a contributor to Encyclopédie Méthodique.

Legacy

Today, most of his collection is housed at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.[5]

A species of lizard, Mesalina olivieri, is named in his honor.[6]

References
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  1. JSTOR Global Plants (biography)
  2. "Guillaume Olivier 1756–1814". University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  3. "Olivier". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. Olivier, Guillaume Antoine (1789). Entomologie, ou, Histoire naturelle des insectes : avec leurs caractères génériques et spécifiques, leur description, leur synonymie, et leur enluminée / Coléoptères. Paris, France: De l'Imprimerie de Baudoin. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61905.
  5. University of Nebraska-Lincoln State Museum - Division of Entomology Archived 2018-05-22 at the Wayback Machine (biographical information)
  6. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Olivieri", pp. 194–195).
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