Auguste Boissonneau (26 July 1802,

Saumur Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgu ...

– 7 July 1883,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and

ocularist An ocularist specializes in the fabrication and fitting of ocular prostheses for people who have lost an eye or eyes due to trauma or illness.{{Cite journal , last1=Khandekar , first1=Rajiv , last2=Changal , first2=Nusrat , last3=AlRasheed , first3 ...

. In the latter field he was a pioneer of

ocular prosthesis An ocular prosthesis, artificial eye or glass eye is a type of craniofacial prosthesis that replaces an absent natural eye following an enucleation, evisceration, or orbital exenteration. Someone with an ocular prosthesis is altogether blin ...

. As an ornithologist, he was the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon), and these groups are given ...

of numerous species native to tropical and subtropical

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. The

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

genus '' Boissonneaua'' ( Reichenbach, 1854) commemorates his name, as does the species '' Pseudocolaptes boissonneautii'' (streaked tuftedcheek), a bird circumscribed by

Frédéric de Lafresnaye Baron Nöel Frédéric Armand André de Lafresnaye (24 July 1783 – 14 July 1861) was a French ornithologist and collector. Lafresnaye was born into an aristocratic family at Chateau de La Fresnaye in Falaise, Normandy. He took an early in ...

in 1840.

Ornithological taxa described by Boissonneau

* Black-chested mountain tanager - ''Cnemathraupis eximia''. * Blue-and-black tanager - ''Tangara vassorii''. *

Blue cotinga The blue cotinga (''Cotinga nattererii'') is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is found in Colombia, north-west Ecuador, eastern to western Panama and western Venezuela in tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former fo ...

- ''Cotinga nattererii''. * Bronze-tailed thornbill - ''Chalcostigma heteropogon''. * Buff-breasted mountain tanager - ''Dubusia taeniata''. * Collared inca - ''Coeligena torquata''. *

Colombian mountain grackle The Colombian mountain grackle (''Macroagelaius subalaris''), is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. Distribution and habitat It is endemic to Colombia where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Conservat ...

- ''Macroagelaius subalaris''. *

Crimson-mantled woodpecker The crimson-mantled woodpecker (''Colaptes rivolii'') is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The crimson-mantled woo ...

- ''Piculus rivolii''. *

Glossy flowerpiercer The glossy flowerpiercer (''Diglossa lafresnayii'') is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, subtropical or trop ...

- ''Diglossa lafresnayii''. *

Green-and-black fruiteater The green-and-black fruiteater (''Pipreola riefferii'') is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, where its habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Because of its ran ...

- ''Pipreola riefferii''. * Green-bearded helmetcrest - ''Oxypogon guerinii''. * Golden-bellied starfrontlet - ''Coeligena bonapartei''. * Golden-fronted whitestart- ''Myioborus ornatus''. * Grey-browed brush finch - ''Arremon assimilis''. * Metallic-green tanager - ''Tangara labradorides''. * Mountain velvetbreast - ''Lafresnaya lafresnayi''. * Moustached brush finch - ''Atlapetes albofrenatus''. * Pale-naped brush finch - ''Atlapetes pallidinucha''. *

Purple-backed thornbill The purple-backed thornbill (''Ramphomicron microrhynchum'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.HBW and BirdLife International (2 ...

- ''Ramphomicron microrhynchum''. * Slaty brush finch - ''Atlapetes schistaceus''. * Smoky bush tyrant - ''Myiotheretes fumigatus''. * Sword-billed hummingbird - ''Ensifera ensifera'' *

White-throated toucanet The white-throated toucanet or greyish-throated toucanet (''Aulacorhynchus albivitta'') is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics The white-throated ...

- ''Aulacorhynchus albivitta''.

As a specimen dealer

In his 1837 ''Catalogue d'oiseaux empaillés'', Boissonneau offered bird skins for sale to the Sociéte Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou. Among his customers were

Côme-Damien Degland Côme-Damien Degland (6 July 1787 – 1 January 1856, Lille) was a French physician and zoologist. Biography Born in Armentières, Degland lived in Lille for most of his life, where he was the chief of the Hôpital Saint-Sauveur until his death. H ...

, who ran the Musée Ornithologique de Come Damien Degland, Baron Frédéric de Lafresnaye,

Jean Louis Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

for the Museum für Naturkunde zu Berlin, the Hof-Naturalienkabinett in Vienna

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch patrician, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. Fro ...

for the Reichsmuseum für Naturgeschichte in Leiden and many more. In addition to the museums, private collectors also purchased bird skins, such as

George Loddiges George Loddiges (1784/1786 – 5 May 1846) was a British gardener, artist, and naturalist. He worked in the nursery business established by his father and illustrated nearly 2000 plates of plants in the nursery's own periodical, the ''Botanical Cab ...

and

Benjamin Leadbeater Benjamin Leadbeater (12 January 1773 – 22 March 1851) was a British naturalist, ornithologist and taxidermist. Benjamin Leadbeater was a renowned merchant of natural history materials in London, England. His shop was located at 19 Brewer Street ...

.Later, the Natural History Museum in London acquired Loddige's material.

Partial bibliography

* ''Nouvelles espèces d'Oiseaux-Mouches de Santa-Fé de Bogota'', Revue zoologique la Société cuviérienne, 1839, S. 354–356. * ''Oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus de Santa-Fé de Bogota'', Revue zoologique la Société cuviérienne, 1840, S. 2–8. * ''Nouvelle espèce du genre Pic'', Revue zoologique la Société cuviérienne, 1840, S. 36–37 * ''Oiseaux nouveaux de Santa-Fé de Bogota'', Revue zoologique la Société cuviérienne, 1840, S. 66–71. * ''Recherche sur l'histoire des yeux artifisiels'', Annales de la Société de médecine de Gand, 1843. * ''Prothèse oculaire. Yeux artificiels mobiles de M. Boissonneau'', 1849. * "Methode of complete and individual appropriation of artificial eyes comprising the different kinds of advertissements, with the wood cuts belonging to them. M. Auguste Boissonneau's moveable artificial eyes..." W. T. Soulby, 1853. * ''De la Restauration de la physionomie chez les personnes privées d'un oeil'', 1859.Google Search
List of published works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boissonneau, Auguste 1802 births 1883 deaths People from Saumur French ornithologists