Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel

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Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel (1774 - 1846) was a French soldier and entomologist.

Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel was born in 1774 in Valenciennes and died on January 10, 1846 in Paris. After studies in Douai, he joined, the French Army when he was sixteen years old. He took part in the campaigns of 1795 and 1796. Retiring from the army he worked afterwards as a government administrator stationed in Paris. He was forced to retire again , aged 42 years, in 1816, because of his opinions in favour of Napoleon Bonaparte. He then devoted himself to the study of insects.

Duponchel finished in 1838, after twelve years of effort, l’ Histoire naturelle des lépidoptères de France started with Jean Baptiste Godart. This work consists of seventeen volumes (including twelve signed by Duponchel), 7, 600 coloured plates and 500 “boards “(these appear under the title Iconographie des Chenilles or Iconography of the Caterpillars). It appeared from 1832 to 1842 and the authors describe more than four thousand species of butterflies and moths.

Duponchel was one of the founders of the Société Entomologique de France and was its first treasurer. He was a very close friend of Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean , of Auguste Duméril and Pierre André Latreille . He is buried in the cemetery of Montparnasse.