Émile Oustalet

Oustalet Jean-Frédéric Émile Oustalet (24 August 1844 – 23 October 1905) was a French zoologist who contributed greatly to ornithology.

Oustalet was born at Montbéliard, in the department of Doubs. He studied at the Ecole des Hautes-Etudes and his first scientific work was on the respiratory organs of dragonfly larvae. He was employed at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, where he succeeded Jules Verreaux as assistant-naturalist in 1875. In 1900 he succeeded Alphonse Milne-Edwards as Professor of Mammalogy. Oustalet became especially interested in birds after the museum received new specimens from Indo-China and Africa. He took a special interest in the birds of China and co-authored ''Les Oiseaux de la Chine'' (1877) with Armand David, and also wrote ''Les Oiseaux du Cambodge'' (1899). He described a specimen from Branco as a separate species ''Passer brancoensis'' in 1883, which was recognised as the subspecies ''Passer iagoensis brancoensis'' by W. R. P. Bourne, who claimed to observe differences between Iago sparrows from different islands.

Oustalet attended the International Ornithological Congress at Vienna (1884), Budapest (1891), London (1905) and presided in Paris (1900).

The duck species ''Anas oustaleti'' was named after him. A species of Malagasy chameleon, ''Furcifer oustaleti'', was named in his honor by François Mocquard in 1894.

Oustalet died at St. Cast (Cotes-du-Nord) after several weeks of illness. The funeral was held in Montbeliard (Doubs). Provided by Wikipedia

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