Pierre André Latreille

Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoologist who studied arthropods (insects, spiders, crabs, etc.). First trained as a priest, he was jailed during the French Revolution but freed after spotting a rare beetle in prison, Necrobia ruficollis.

He wrote his first major work, , in 1796. Later, he worked at the . His work on arthropod classification earned him respect. He wrote the insect section for George Cuvier's famous book —the only part not written by Cuvier himself.

Latreille was seen as the top insect expert of his time. One student called him "the prince of entomologists."

Biography

Early years
Pierre André Latreille was born on 29 November 1762 in Brive, France. His father, Jean Joseph Sahuguet d'Amarzit, never acknowledged him, and his mother left him at birth. He got the name "Latreille" in 1813; its origin is unclear. As a child, he was cared for by different people—first a doctor, then a merchant, and later a baron who took him to Paris in 1778.

He studied to become a priest at the University of Paris. By 1786, he was a deacon but never worked as a priest. During his studies, he became interested in natural history, collecting insects and learning about plants from René Just Haüy. This led him to meet Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

 Necrobia ruficollis 


After the French Revolution, priests were asked to swear loyalty to the new government. Latreille refused and was jailed in 1793, facing possible execution.

A prison doctor noticed Latreille studying a beetle on the floor. When Latreille said it was rare, the doctor sent it to young naturalist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent. Recognizing Latreille's name, Bory helped free him. They stayed friends.Bory de Saint-Vincent, Correspondence, published and annotated by Philippe Lauzun, Maison d’édition et imprimerie moderne, 1908. (Read online) The beetle had been identified by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. Without this chance, Latreille would likely have died as all other prisoners were executed within a month.


After prison, Latreille taught and wrote to other insect researchers, including Fabricius. In 1796, with Fabricius' encouragement, he published . He was briefly held again in 1797, but scientists like Georges Cuvier and Lamarck helped free him. In 1798, he joined the Muséum, working with Lamarck on arthropods and publishing scientific works.

Later career
When entomologist Guillaume-Antoine Olivier died in 1814, Latreille took his place at the French Academy of Sciences. Over the next few years, he contributed heavily to science, including writing about arthropods for Cuvier’s Le Règne Animal (1817). In 1819, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. As Lamarck went blind, Latreille took on more of his work. In 1821, he received the Légion d'honneur. He became professor of entomology in 1829 after Lamarck’s death.

Final years


From 1824, Latreille’s health worsened. He handed teaching duties to Jean Victoire Audouin and worked with assistants like Amédée Louis Michel Lepeletier. He helped found the French Entomological Society and served as its honorary president.  

His wife fell ill in 1830 and died that May. Latreille had married at some point, though he had once been a priest. He left the museum in 1832 to avoid a cholera outbreak, returning to Paris later. He died of bladder disease on 6 February 1833. He had no children but had adopted a niece.

Memory
The French Entomological Society raised funds for a monument at his grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery. It included a obelisk and an inscription honoring the beetle that saved him: "" ("Necrobia ruficollis, Latreille’s savior").

Many species and groups were named after him, including:

 Lumbrineris latreilli Audouin & H. Milne-Edwards, 1833
 Cecrops latreillii Leach, 1816
 Apseudes latreillii (H. Milne-Edwards, 1828)
 Orbinia latreillii (Audouin & H. Milne-Edwards, 1833)
 Latreillia Roux, 1830
 Cilicaea latreillei Leach, 1818
 Bittium latreillii (Payraudeau, 1826)
 Macrophthalmus latreillei (Desmarest, 1822)
 Eurypodius latreillei Guérin, 1828
 Sphex latreillei Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1831

Work
Latreille made major contributions to science, especially in classifying arthropods. Johan Christian Fabricius called him "the foremost entomologist of our time."

Classification
He was the first to try organizing arthropods naturally. His "eclectic method" used all available evidence without favoring one idea over another.

He named many groups, including Thysanura, Siphonaptera, Ostracoda, Stomatopoda, Xiphosura, and Myriapoda.

Type species
Though he named many species, Latreille focused on describing genera. He introduced the idea of a "type species"—a species that defines a genus’s name. He also preferred naming families after a key genus rather than a trait, setting an early example for classifying groups.

References

Other websites

 Works by Pierre André Latreille at the Biodiversity Heritage Library

Category:1762 births
Category:1833 deaths
Category:French zoologists
Category:French Roman Catholics
Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery