Jacques Millot

Jacques Millot (9 July 1897, Beauvais – 23 January 1980, Paris) was a French arachnologist, who also made significant contributions in the fields of ichthyology and ethnology.

Biography He studied histology under Justin Marie Jolly at the Collège de France in Paris, earning his medical doctorate in 1922. In 1931 he became a professor of physiological anthropology, and in 1943, he was appointed chair of comparative anatomy at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, a position he kept up until 1960. Afterwards, he was a professor of ethnology at the natural history museum as well as director of the Musée de l'Homme (1960–67).

In 1947 he was named director of the Institut scientifique de Madagasgar, and during the following year, became president of the Académie malgache (Malagasy Academy). He was a member of the Société zoologique de France; he served as its president in 1943. In late September 1953, a coelacanth was caught in waters near the port city of Mutsamudu, island of Anjouan (third discovered specimen overall). In 1958 he published a treatise on the anatomy of the coelacanth, titled Anatomie de Latimeria chalumnae.

Taxa with the specific epithet of milloti honor his name; examples being Paracontias milloti Angel, 1949 (Nosy Mamoko skink), and Platypelis milloti Guibé, 1950 (Millot's froglet). With Lucien Berland, he described numerous species of spiders and the arachnid genera Afraflacilla and Bacelarella.

Published works (selection) He was director-founder of the Mémoires de l’Institut scientifique de Madagascar (1948) and founder of the journal Naturaliste malgache (1953). Anatomie de Latimeria chalumnae, 1958–1978; 3 volumes (with Jean Anthony; Daniel Robineau) – Anatomy of Latimeria chalumnae.