Zéphirin Gerbe Explained

Jean-Joseph Zéphirin Gerbe (21 December 1810 in Bras – 26 June 1890 in Bras) was a French naturalist. He was the first to discover the pattern of wing taxis, the absence (diastataxis) or presence (eutaxy) of the fifth secondary in birds.^[1]

He was co-author of Ornithologie européenne, ou Catalogue analytique et raisonné des oiseaux observés en Europe with countryman Côme-Damien Degland (second edition, 1867).^{[2] [3]} He also published a French translation of Alfred Brehm's Illustrirtes Thierleben with the title La vie des animaux illustrée : description populaire du règne animal (4 volumes).^[4]

Species he described include Gerbe's vole.^[2]

Selected works

• Mélanges zoologiques. Notices et observations sur quelques vertébrés nouveaux pour la faune de la Provence, (1852).
• Ornithologie européenne, ou Catalogue descriptif, analytique et raisonné des oiseaux observés en Europe; with C. D. Degland, (1867).
• Les Oiseaux décrits et figurés d'après la classification de Georges Cuvier, mise au courant des progrès de la science, (1869).
• Étude comparative de quelques caractères du Campagnol ibérien et du Campagnol incertain, (1879).^[5]

Notes and References

1. Sclater. P. L.. 1890. Remarks on the Fifth Cubital Remex of the Wing in the Carinatae. Ibis. en. 32. 1. 77–83. 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1890.tb06468.x. 0019-1019.
2. Book: Bo Beolens . Michael Watkins . Michael Grayson . The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. JHU Press. 2009. 151. 9780801895333.
3. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/12027#/titles Biodiversity Library
4. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008594216 HathiTrust Digital Library
5. http://data.bnf.fr/14476710/zephirin_gerbe/ Zéphirin Gerbe (1810-1890)