George Albert Boulenger

George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses.

Early life and education Boulenger was born in Brussels, Belgium, the only son of Gustave Boulenger, a Belgian public notary, and Juliette Piérart, from Valenciennes. He graduated in 1876 from the Free University of Brussels with a degree in natural sciences, and worked for a while at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, as an assistant naturalist studying amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. He also made frequent visits during this time to the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris and the British Museum in London.

According to biographical accounts, he was incredibly methodical and had an amazing memory that enabled him to remember every specimen and scientific name he ever saw. He also had extraordinary powers of writing, seldom made a second draft of anything he wrote, and his manuscripts showed but few corrections before going to the publisher.

Boulenger also played the violin, could speak French, German, and English apart from reading Spanish, Italian and a bit of Russian. As a zoologist, he also had a working knowledge of both Greek and Latin.

By 1921, Boulenger had published 875 papers

Taxa described by him See :Category:Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger

Boulenger described hundreds of reptile taxa; 587 species described by him are still recognised today. He also described many amphibians and fishes.

Taxa named in his honor These 26 reptile species, recognised today, bear George Boulenger's name in the specific name, as boulengeri, boulengerianus, or boulengerii :

Agama boulengeri – Boulenger's agama Anolis boulengerianus – Tehuantepec anole Atractaspis boulengeri – Boulenger's burrowing asp

Atractus boulengerii – Boulenger's centipede snake Brachymeles boulengeri – Boulenger's short-legged skink Chalcides boulengeri – Boulenger's sand skink Cnemaspis boulengerii – Con Dao rock gecko Compsophis boulengeri – Boulenger's forest snake Cylindrophis boulengeri – Timor pipesnake Dendragama boulengeri – Boulenger's tree agama Elapsoidea boulengeri – Boulenger's gartersnake Feylinia boulengeri – gabon legless skink Hebius boulengeri – Tai-Yong keelback Enyalius boulengeri – Brazilian fathead anole Epacrophis boulengeri – Lamu blindsnake Gonyosoma boulengeri – rhinoceros ratsnake Chersobius boulengeri – Karoo padloper Liolaemus boulengeri – Boulenger's tree lizard Morethia boulengeri – Boulenger's snake-eyed skink Nucras boulengeri – Ugandan savanna lizard Pareas boulengeri – Boulenger's slug snake Xenoxybelis boulengeri – southern sharp-nosed snake Rhampholeon boulengeri – Boulenger's pygmy chameleon Scolecoseps boulengeri – Moçambique legless skink Trachyboa boulengeri – northern eyelash boa Trachylepis boulengeri – Boulenger's skink

The water cobra genus Boulengerina was named for G.A. Boulenger, but it is now treated as a subgenus of Naja containing four species: Naja annulata (water cobra), Naja christyi (Congo water cobra), Naja melanoleuca (forest cobra), and Naja multifasciata (burrowing cobra).

Fish species named after Boulenger Euchilichthys boulengeri Nichols & La Monte 1934 The catfish Heterobranchus boulengeri Pellegrin, 1922 Hyphessobrycon boulengeri (Eigenmann, 1907) Labeobarbus boulengeri Vreven, Musschoot, Snoeks & Schliewen, 2016 Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri (Steindachner, 1909) Xenophysogobio boulengeri (T. L. Tchang, 1929) was named for Boulenger, who provided "some guidance" (translation) in the completion of Tchang's paper.

In the above lists, a binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than the genus to which it is currently assigned.

Fish genera named after Boulenger The pike characin genus Boulengerella Eigenmann, 1903 The cichlid genus Boulengerochromis The mormyrid genus Boulengeromyrus

Botany