Emile_Oustalet
Émile Oustalet
French zoologist
Jean-Frédéric Émile Oustalet (24 August 1844 – 23 October 1905) was a French zoologist who contributed greatly to ornithology.[1]
Oustalet was born at Montbéliard, in the department of Doubs. He studied at the Ecole des Hautes-Etudes and his first scientific work was on the respiratory organs of dragonfly larvae. He was employed at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, where he succeeded Jules Verreaux as assistant-naturalist in 1875. In 1900 he succeeded Alphonse Milne-Edwards as Professor of Mammalogy.[1]
Oustalet became especially interested in birds after the museum received new specimens from Indo-China and Africa. He took a special interest in the birds of China and co-authored Les Oiseaux de la Chine (1877) with Armand David, and also wrote Les Oiseaux du Cambodge (1899).[1] He described a specimen from Branco as a separate species Passer brancoensis in 1883,[2][3] which was recognised as the subspecies Passer iagoensis brancoensis by W. R. P. Bourne, who claimed to observe differences between Iago sparrows from different islands.[4]
Oustalet attended the International Ornithological Congress at Vienna (1884), Budapest (1891), London (1905) and presided in Paris (1900).[5]
The duck species Anas oustaleti was named after him. A species of Malagasy chameleon, Furcifer oustaleti, was named in his honor by François Mocquard in 1894.[6]
Oustalet died at St. Cast (Cotes-du-Nord) after several weeks of illness. The funeral was held in Montbeliard (Doubs).