From the shadows of the past: Moricand senior and junior, two 19th century naturalists from Geneva, with their newly described taxa and molluscan types.

Abstract

Stefano Moricand (1779-1854) and his son Jacques (1823-1877) were amateur scientists active in Geneva. Moricand senior was interested in botany, mineralogy, entomology, and malacology. Between 1820-1847 he published 11 papers on botany, in which he described 110 taxa (including three genera). From 1834-1851 six papers appeared from his hand in which he introduced 72 malacological taxa. Moricand junior published only four malacological papers within a relatively short time (1853-1860), with 16 new species. Biographies and a bibliography, together with a list of their newly introduced taxa, are given for both. The history of their malacological collection and their contacts with other contemporary malacologists are presented, including brief data on J. S. Blanchet (1807-1875) and A. Brot (1821-1896) who were closely linked to this collection, which covered both terrestrial and freshwater molluscs. The type material present in the Museum d'histoire naturelle in Geneva, of the molluscan, non-Orthalicoid taxa of S. and J. Moricand is figured, complementary to Breure, 2016 (Mollusca, Orthalicoidea).