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Eugène Simon
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the British actor, see Eugene Simon.

Eugène Simon
 Portrait by Nadar, c. 1900

Born 30 April 1848

Died 17 November 1924 (aged 76)

Scientific career

Institutions Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris

Eugène Louis Simon (French pronunciation: [øʒɛn lwi simɔ̃]; 30 April 1848 – 17 November
1924) was a French naturalist who worked particularly on insects and spiders, but also
on birds and plants. He is by far the most prolific spider taxonomist in history, describing
over 4,000 species.[1]
Work on spiders[edit]
His most significant work was Histoire Naturelle des Araignées (1892–1903), an
encyclopedic treatment of the spider genera of the world. It was published in two
volumes of more than 1000 pages each, and the same number of drawings by Simon.
Working at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, it took Simon 11 years to
complete, while working at the same time on devising a taxonomic scheme that
embraced the known taxa.[2] Simon described a total of 4,650 species, and as of 2013
about 3,790 species are still considered valid.[1] The International Society of
Arachnology offers a Simon Award recognising lifetime achievement.[3]
The Eocene fossil spider species Cenotextricella simoni was named in his honor.[4]
Work on birds[edit]
Simon also had an interest in hummingbirds. Simon made the first collections of birds in
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region of Colombia.[5] During his career, described
several species and races as well as creating the
genera Anopetia, Stephanoxis, Haplophaedia and Taphrolesbia. He is commemorated
by race simoni of the swallow-tailed hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura). His seminal
work on hummingbirds was Histoire Naturelle des Trochilidae in 1921.
Work on plants[edit]
The standard author abbreviation Simon is used to indicate this person as the author
when citing a botanical name.[6] Simon's contributions to botany formed a relatively
minor part of his work, and he should not be confounded with the French
botanist Eugène Ernest Simon (1871–1967), abbreviation E.Simon.[7]
References[edit]
 1. ^ Jump up to:a b Platnick, Norman I.; Raven, Robert J. (2013). "Spider Systematics: Past and
Future". Zootaxa. 3683 (5): 595–600. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3683.5.8. PMID 25250473.
2. ^ "A History of Scientific Endeavour in South Africa" - A. C. Brown (1977)
3. ^ International Society for Arachnology
4. ^ Penney, David; Dierick, Manuel; Cnudde, Veerle; Masschaele, Bert; Vlassenbroeck, Jelle; van
Hoorebeke, Luc & Jacobs, Patric (2007). "First fossil Micropholcommatidae (Araneae), imaged in
Eocene Paris amber using X-Ray Computed Tomography" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1612: 47–
53. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1623.1.3. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
5. ^ Schauensee, Meyer de (1964). The Birds of Colombia and adjacent areas of South and Central
America. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
6. ^ International Plant Names Index. Simon.
7. ^ Stafleu, F.A.; Cowan, R.S. (1976–1988). "Eugène Simon [Ernest] (1871–1967)". Taxonomic
literature: A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and
types. Second Edition. Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema and Holkema; Available online through Smithsonian
Institution Libraries.

External links[edit]
 Works by or about Eugène Simon at Internet Archive
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Categories:
 French arachnologists
 French entomologists
 Presidents of the Société entomologique de France
 Members of the French Academy of Sciences
 1848 births
 1924 deaths
 National Museum of Natural History (France) people
 This page was last edited on 18 April 2024, at 06:44 (UTC).
 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By
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