Xavier Mattei is a French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

; his research was mainly in the field of

sperm Sperm (: sperm or sperms) is the male reproductive Cell (biology), cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm ...

ultrastructure Ultrastructure (or ultra-structure) is the architecture of cells and biomaterials that is visible at higher magnifications than found on a standard optical light microscope. This traditionally meant the resolution and magnification range of a c ...

, including

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

and a variety of invertebrates such as

flatworms Platyhelminthes (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") is a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates commonly called ...

and

acanthocephalans Acanthocephala ( Greek , ' 'thorn' + , ' 'head') is a group of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses t ...

. He is one of the most prolific authors in the field of

morphology and its use for the understanding of

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

, with more than 150 papers published.

Career

Xavier Mattei was a student at the

University of Dakar Cheikh Anta Diop University (), also known as the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, is a university in Dakar, Senegal. It is named after the Senegalese physicist, historian and anthropologist Cheikh Anta Diop and has an enrollment of over 60, ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, then he became "''Assistant''", later "''Maître-Assistant''" and finally

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1978. He was the Director of the Department of Animal Biology in this University from 1972 to 1986. In 1993, he left Senegal for joining the University of Corsica until his retirement in 2000. Xavier Mattei has established a Service of Electron Microscopy in the

which allowed many researchers to study cell

and produce a great number of scientific publications in the fields of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

. This Service had three

electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing it ...

s. He was the founder and the Head of this Service from 1970 to 1993.

Eponymous taxa

Two species have been named in his honour: the

Microsporidia Microsporidia are a group of spore-forming unicellular parasites. These spores contain an extrusion apparatus that has a coiled polar tube ending in an anchoring disc at the apical part of the spore.Franzen, C. (2005). How do Microsporidia inva ...

''Unikaryon matteii'' Toguebaye & Marchand, 1984 and the Acanthocephalan '' Mediorhynchus mattei'' Marchand & Vassiliadès, 1982. Both are parasitic species collected from animals in

Archaeology

As an amateur

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, Xavier Mattei collected many artifacts in the

ese village of La Somone, South of

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, over a period of more than 40 years. His findings were published in a book in 2015. * Xavier Mattei. La Somone. Sénégal. Traces d’histoire (2015) Escourbiac imprimeur à Graulhet, 81300 (87 pages) .

Cartoonist

After his retirement, Xavier Mattei published three books of cartoons about

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. * Xavier Mattei. La Corse. Dessins en liberté surveillée. 2001. Édition Anima Corsa, Bastia (133 pages) . * Xavier Mattei. La Corse. Dessins libres. 2004. Édition Anima Corsa, Bastia (115 pages) . * Xavier Mattei. La Corse. Dessins identitaires. 2008. Édition Anima Corsa, Bastia (87 pages) .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattei, Xavier Living people 1939 births French zoologists Corsican diaspora French cartoonists French illustrators