Sander Rang

Last updated
Histoire naturelle des Aplysiens Plate 13 by Perrine Louise Rang Histoire naturelle des Aplysiens13.jpg
Histoire naturelle des Aplysiens Plate 13 by Perrine Louise Rang

Sander Rang or Paul Charles Leonard Alexander Rang (1793, Utrecht -1844, Mayotte) was a French conchologist and interpreter of Arabic texts. He was, in 1816, one of the survivors of the sinking of the frigate Medusa, on which he was an ensign. He spent a good part of his life in La Rochelle, where he published his early zoological observations, in particular in the bulletins of the Society of Natural Sciences of Charente-Maritimes.In 1841 Rang was one of the founding members of the Société des Amis des Arts now the Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Rochelle.He specialised in marine fauna notably in sea hares, cephalopods and other molluscs and on the heterogenous group known as zoophytes. Sander Rang described many new mollusc species including the sea hares Aplysia dactylomela , Dolabrifera dolabrifera , the cuttlefish Sepia hierredda and the land snails Striosubulina striatella , Pleurodonte desidens and Opeas hannense .

Contents

Biography

Sander Rang was born into a family of Protestant bourgeoisie (people with private wealth, an upper class social status, and its related culture) from Vivarais. His grandfather was Alexandre Rang des Adrets (1722-1792) a pastor from Crest, in the Drôme. His father, Jean-Alexandre Rang des Adrets (1757-1824) also a pastor, went into exile in Utrecht. Later he settled in La Rochelle. Sander Rang was born in Utrecht in 1793. He spent a good part of his life in La Rochelle.In 1816, aged 23, he enlisted on La Méduse a frigate ferrying French officials to the port of Saint-Louis, in Senegal. Ineptly commanded, La Méduse struck the Bank of Arguin off the coast of present-day Mauritania and became a total loss. Sander Rang was on the captain's boat and not on the ill-fated raft. His manuscript account of these events was published in 1946. [1]

By then a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, he married Perrine Esther Agathe Louise Cassen-Vaucorbeil (26 August 1805, Saint-Malo - 9 June 1884, La Rochelle) at Île-de-France in 1827. She was a painter taught by Eugène Delacroix and the couple participated in all the cultural activities of La Rochelle. On 4 October 1829 he left the naval port of Toulon commanding the naval brig (brick de L'Etat) La Champenoise embarked for first Almeria, then Gorée and the Senegal coast then Ile de prince then to Brasil. At the time such voyages were a part of the expansion of the French colonial empire but Rang's naval duties allowed sufficient time to collect molluscs. Promoted to the rank of Captain 1st Class of corvette, he left La Rochelle and became captain of the port of Algiers in 1834. In 1837 he has the rank Officieur superiéure au Corps royal de la Marines and he was appointed administrator (superior commander) of Mayotte in 1842. He died of a fever. His wife married a banker in La Rochelle, Théophile Babut a year later.

Ship Augustin de la Rochelle, ca 1810 Ex-voto ship Augustin de la Rochelle, ca 1810, Church Saint-Sauveur La Rochelle.jpg
Ship Augustin de la Rochelle, ca 1810

Societies

Publications

partial list

Taxa named and described by Rang

Taxa named for Rang

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Baptiste Boisduval</span> French lepidopterist (1799–1879)

Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchauffour de Boisduval was a French lepidopterist, botanist, and physician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Lesson</span> French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist (1794–1849)

René-Primevère Lesson was a French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ours-Pierre-Armand Petit-Dufrénoy</span> French geologist (1792–1857)

Ours-Pierre-Armand Petit-Dufrénoy was a French geologist and mineralogist.

Gérard Paul Deshayes was a French geologist and conchologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent</span> French naturalist (1778-1846)

Jean-Baptiste Geneviève Marcellin Bory de Saint-Vincent was a French naturalist, officer and politician. He was born on 6 July 1778 in Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) and died on 22 December 1846 in Paris. Biologist and geographer, he was particularly interested in volcanology, systematics and botany. The standard author abbreviation Bory is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoine Risso</span>

Giuseppe Antonio Risso, called Antoine Risso, was a Niçard and naturalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Draparnaud</span> French naturalist, malacologist and botanist

Jacques Philippe Raymond Draparnaud was a French naturalist, malacologist and botanist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules René Bourguignat</span> French malacologist

Jules René Bourguignat was a French malacologist, a scientist who studied mollusks. He served as secretary-general of the Société malacologique de France. He traveled widely, visiting, for example, Lake Tanganyika and North Africa. He reportedly defined 112 new genera and around 2540 new species of mollusks.

Louis André Gaspard Michaud was a French malacologist. He is also known as Gaspard Michaud or as André Louis Gaspard Michaud.

<i>Gibberula miliaria</i> Species of gastropod

Gibberula miliaria is a species of very small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Cystiscidae.

<i>Stramonita rustica</i> Species of gastropod

Stramonita rustica is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

<i>Taurasia striata</i> Species of gastropod

Taurasia striata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

<i>Jujubinus exasperatus</i> Species of gastropod

Jujubinus exasperatus, the Rough Top Shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.

<i>Ovula costellata</i> Species of gastropod

Ovula costellata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the ovulids, cowry allies or false cowries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Payraudeau</span> French zoologist

Charles Payraudeau (1798–1865) was a French zoologist.

<i>Pusia ebenus</i> Species of gastropod

Pusia ebenus, common names brown mitre, ivory mitre, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk, in the family Costellariidae, the ribbed miters.

<i>Episcomitra cornicula</i> Species of gastropod

Episcomitra cornicula is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk, in the family Mitridae, the miters or miter snails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyalocylidae</span> Family of gastropods

The family Hyalocylidae is a taxonomic group of small floating sea snails, pelagic marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks.

<i>Vexillum oleaceum</i> Species of gastropod

Vexillum oleaceum, commonly known as the olive-like mitre, is a species of small sea snail, marine gastropod mollusk in the family Costellariidae, the ribbed miters.

<i>Lampasopsis thomae</i> Species of gastropod

Lampasopsis thomae is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Bursidae, the frog shells.

References

  1. Rang, Sander (1946). Voyage au Sénégal Naufrage de La Méduse. Paris: Éditions E.P.I.