French naturalist (primarily a malacologist) and illustrator. Pierre M. A. Morelet was born in Lays, Doubs, and was a member of the Commission to Algeria, illustrating the organisms encountered by the party and focusing on molluscs in particular he published many works on this phylum in Africa and the Azores. In 1846 he was sent to Central America by the French Academy of Sciences in order to collect specimens for the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Morelet was tasked with making observations of a wide range of organisms, including domesticated animals with origins in America and birds nests, collecting specimens from as many bird species as possible. Travelling from La Havre to Havana he spent two months in Cuba before moving on to the Yucatan. In 1847 Morelet arrived in El Peten and travelled to Antigua before returning to France the following year. The diaries of his travels were published in 1857 under the title Voyage dans l'Amérique Centrale l’ile de Cuba el le Yucatán. As well as the study of marine invertebrates, Morelet also made some important herpetological discoveries, most notably Morelet's crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) which was named for him by G. Bibron and A. Duméril after he collected the type material in Guatemala. Several gastropods were also named for him including Onoba moreleti Dauzenberg (1889) and Conus moreleti H. Crosse (1858). Morelet later became president of the Dijon Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters and married Noémie de Folin, sister of a fellow French naturalist and explorer L&’xE9;opold de Folin.
Sources:
Alcalá Rerráez, C. R., 2008, "Asistencia, Sanidad y Población en la ciudad de San Francisco de Campeche, 1812-1861" Universidad de Barcelona.
Hansson, H. G., 1998, Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names (BEMON). M: http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/petymol.m.html
Savage, J. M., 1987, "Systematics and Distribution of the Mexican and Central American Rainfrogs of the Eleutherodactylus gollmeri Group (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae)" Fieldiana Zoology 33: 1-57.
