Editing Alcide d'Orbigny (section)

==South American era==
D'Orbigny travelled on a mission for the Paris Museum, in South America between 1826 and 1833. He visited Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, and returned to France with an enormous collection of more than 10,000 natural history specimens. He described part of his findings in ''La Relation du Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale pendant les années 1826 à 1833'' (Paris, 1824–47, in 90 [[fascicle (book)|fascicles]]). The other specimens were described by zoologists at the museum.

His contemporary, [[Charles Darwin]], arrived in South America in 1832, and on hearing that he had been preceded, grumbled that D'Orbigny had probably collected "the cream of all the good things".<ref name="letter: 192">{{cite web | title= letter: 192, Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S. [26 Oct–] 24 Nov 1832 | website=Darwin Correspondence Project | url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-192#back-mark-192.f3 | access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref> Darwin later called D'Orbigny's Voyage a "most important work".<ref name="letter: 391">{{cite web | title= letter: 391, Darwin, C. R. to Jenyns, Leonard, 3 Dec [1837]  | website=Darwin Correspondence Project | url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-391 | access-date=22 May 2015}}</ref> They went on to correspond, with D'Orbigny describing some of Darwin's specimens.

He was awarded the [[Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations|Gold Medal]] of the [[Société de Géographie]] of Paris in 1834.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.socgeo.org/grande-medaille-dor-des-explorations-et-voyages-de-decouverte/ |title=Grande Médaille d'or des Explorations et Voyages de Découverte|lang=fr |publisher=Société de géographie |access-date=1 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206004240/http://www.socgeo.org/grande-medaille-dor-des-explorations-et-voyages-de-decouverte/ |archive-date=6 December 2014 }}</ref> The South American Paleocene [[Pantodonta|pantodont]] ''[[Alcidedorbignya]]'' was named in his honour.<ref>{{Cite web
 |title=''Alcidedorbignya'' 
 |publisher=Paleofile.com 
 |url=http://www.paleofile.com/Mammalia/Alcidedorbignya.asp 
 |access-date=July 14, 2013 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214115242/http://www.paleofile.com/Mammalia/Alcidedorbignya.asp 
 |archive-date=14 February 2015 
}}</ref>