Afrânio Pompílio Gastos do Amaral (1 December 1894 in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

– 29 November 1982 in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

) was a Brazilian

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

. As a youngster, he collected

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s for Augusto Emilio Goeldi (1859-1917). He studied medicine in

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

, later finding employment at the Instituto Butantan in

. Here, his work involved research and production of anti-venom serum. In 1921 he succeeded Vital Brazil (1865-1950) as director of the Instituto Butantan. During his career, he was the author of over 450 published works.Paragraph based on translated text of an equivalent article at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

; source listed as:

Kraig Adler Kraig is a male given name as well as a family name. Notable people with the name include: As a given name: * Kraig Chiles, American soccer player * Kraig Grady, musician * Kraig Kann, anchor on The Golf Channel * Kraig Kinser, American race car d ...

(1989). ''Contributions to the History of Herpetology, Vol. 1''. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR). 202 pp. ().

Taxa

Amaral was the taxonomic authority of several herpetological

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

(e.g., '' Mastigodryas'', '' Anotosaura'', '' Colobodactylus'') and of around 40 new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

( Listing of species described by Amaral at French Wikipedia). The following species are named in his honor: *'' Gymnodactylus amarali'' *'' Caaeteboia amarali'' *'' Mastigodryas amarali'' Also, the following

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

is named in his honor: *'' Boa constrictor amarali''

Selected works

*"A general consideration of snake poisoning and observations on neotropical pit-vipers", 1925. *"South American snakes in the collection of the United States National Museum", 1925. *"''Animaes venenosos do Brasil''", 1930. *"''Animais veneniferos, venenos e antivenenos''", 1945. *"''Linguagem científica''", 1976. *"''Serpentes do Brasil: iconografia colorida''" razilian snakes: a color iconography 1977.WorldCat Identities
(list of published works)

References

1894 births 1982 deaths Brazilian herpetologists People from Belém 20th-century Brazilian zoologists {{Brazil-scientist-stub Toxinologists