Commerson returned to live at Châtillon-les-Dombes, where he occupied himself in creating a botanical garden in 1758. After the death of his wife in 1764, he moved to Paris.[2]: 93
In 1766, Commerson joined Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation after being recommended for the position of naturalist by the Paris Academy of Sciences. He had previously drawn up an extensive programme of nature studies for the Marine Ministry, in which he elaborated the "three natural kingdoms" which a naturalist should investigate on a voyage around the world.[3] Among the wildlife that Commerson observed was a particular kind of dolphin in the Strait of Magellan, now known as Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii).[4]
Commerson's partner and assistant, Jeanne Baré (also referred to Jeanne Baret), accompanied him on the voyage, disguised as a man. Baré acted as a nurse to Commerson, who was often ill, as well as assisting him in his scientific work. Her gender was only publicly discovered while the expedition was at Tahiti, but she remained with Commerson, nursing him and assisting him in his professional activities until the end of his life.[5]
Commerson was an astute observer of the Tahitian people and culture, thanks in part to a remarkable lack of European prejudice compared to other early visitors to the island. Commerson and Bougainville together were responsible for spreading the myth of Tahitians as the embodiment of the concept of the noble savage.[6]
Commerson also studied and collected plants wherever the expedition stopped; among others, he described the genus Bougainvillea.[7] On the return voyage to France in 1768, he remained behind at Mauritius (the then-French Isle de France), in order to botanize there and on Madagascar, an island that fascinated him. Pierre Sonnerat, who would also become a renowned botanist, was his personal secretary on the Isle de France.[8]
What admirable country Madagascar is! It would merit not a casual observer but entire academies. Madagascar, I may announce to naturalists, is their promised land; it is there that nature seems to have retreated as into a private sanctuary, to work on different models from any she has used elsewhere: The most curious, the most marvellous forms can be found at every step...
The Wrasse[9]Pastel ringwrasse, Hologymnosus doliatus was originally formally described as Labrus doliatus in 1801 by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in Volume 5 of his Histoire naturelle des poissons based on a drawing by Commerson.[10] In 1801 Lacépède created the genusHologymnosus and designated a species, Hologymnosus fasciatus, he had just described as its type species,[11] this was later shown to be a synonym of H. doliatus.[12]
Commerson provided the first description of the Ring-tailed cardinalfish (Ostorhinchus aureus) from Réunion in the western Indian Ocean, but it was not published in a format allowing full citation. Therefore, the species name and description by Bernard Germain de Lacépède (who acknowledged Commerson) takes precedence, albeit with a nod to Commerson.[13]
Gomphosus caeruleus was formally described in 1801 by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in the third volume of his Histoire naturelle des poissons from types collected by Commerson. No type locality was given, but now it is known to be Mauritius.[14]
The first notes taken on Rufous horneroFurnarius rufus were made by Commerson in 1767, from a specimen obtained at Barragán cove during Louis Antoine de Bougainville's expedition.[15] Commerson named the bird as Turdus fulvus and his notes were later published by Georges Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle in 1779.[16] However, the rufous hornero was first scientifically described, as Merops rufus, by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in the 13th edition of Systema Naturae published in 1788.Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1788). Systema Naturae. Vol. 1. Leipzig. p. 465.
Trachinotus baillonii was formally described in 1801 by the FrenchnaturalistBernard Germain de Lacépède (1726-1825) as Caesiomorus bailloni, the name having been written in a manuscript by Commerson, but was not formally published. The identity of the person nonoured in the specific name is not clear but is either the French naturalist Louis Antoine François Baillon (1778-1851), or his father Jean François Emmanuel Baillon (1742-1801), who was also a naturalist.[20]
Commerson died at Mauritius at the age of 45. His extensive collections from the voyage did not, unfortunately, receive their deserved recognition. Although his numerous manuscripts and herbaria were brought to Paris after his death they were never systematically organized and evaluated.[3] Unaware of his death in 1773, the Paris Academy of Sciences elected him as a fellow botanist just a few months later.[2]: 93
In 1801, Pomadasys commersonnii was first formally described as Labrus commersonnii by Lacépède with the type locality given as Grand golfe de l'Inde, interpreted as rivers of Madagascar.[25] The specific name honors Commerçon, whose name is sometimes spelled Commerson, Lacepède used Commerçon's drawings and notes to base his description on. The specific name argenteus means “silver” and refers to the main colour of this species.[26]
In 1804, The dolphin Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) is named by Lacépède after the French naturalist Commerson, who first described them in 1767 after sighting them in the Strait of Magellan.[4]
In 1813, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described Commerson's roundleaf bat (Macronycteris commersoni), also known as Commerson's leaf-nosed bat,[30] which is a species of bat endemic to Madagascar.[31] It is named after French naturalist Philibert Commerson (1727-1773).[32]
^"Philibert Commerson, the King's Naturalist" . Popular Science Monthly. Vol. 46. pp. 112–114. November 1894 – via Wikisource.
^ a b cDorr, L.J. (1997). Plant Collectors in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. Richmond, Surrey: Kew Publishing. ISBN 978-1900347181.
^ a bKlaus-Georg Popp, in an epilog to Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, Reise um die Welt, Rütten & Loening Berlin 1977, pp 425f.
^ a bSharks and Whales (Carwardine et al. 2002), p. 370.
^Ridley, Glynis. "A Female Explorer Discovered On The High Seas". All Things Considered. National Public Radio (NPR). Retrieved 19 February 2012.
^Salmond, Anne (2010). Aphrodite's Island. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 116-117. ISBN 9780520261143.
^"Bougainvillea Comm. ex Juss". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.
^ a bMorel, Jean-Paul (2002). "Philibert Commerson à Madagascar et à Bourbon" (PDF) (in French). Jean-Paul Morel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
^Randall, J.E., 1986. Labridae. p. 683-706. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
^Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (12 January 2021). "Order Acanthuriformes (part 2): Families Ephippidae, Leiognathidae, Scatophagidae, Antigoniidae, Siganidae, Caproidae, Luvaridae, Zanclidae and Acanthuridae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (10 August 2019). "Order CARANGIFORMES (Jacks)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
^Under its accepted name Artocarpus heterophyllus (then as heterophylla) this species was described in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 3: 209. (1789) by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, from a specimen collected by botanist Commerson. Lamarck said of the fruit that it was coarse and difficult to digest. Larmarck's original description of tejas. Vol. t.3. Panckoucke;Plomteux. 1789. Retrieved 23 November 2012. On mange la chair de son fruit, ainsi que les noyaux qu'il contient; mais c'est un aliment grossier et difficile à digérer.
^"Name - !Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
^"Commersonia". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
^Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2018). "Scomberomorus commerson" in FishBase. April 2018 version.
^Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (5 January 2021). "Order LUTJANIFORMES: Families HAEMULIDAE and LUTJANIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
^Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (10 August 2019). "Order CARANGIFORMES (Jacks)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
^Monadjem, A.; Andriafidison, D.; Cardiff, S.G.; Goodman, S.; Hutson, A.M.; Jenkins, R.K.B.; Kofoky, A.; Racey, P.A.; Ranivo, J.; Ratrimomanarivo, F.H.; Razafimanahaka, J. (2019). "Macronycteris commersoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T10120A22092860. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T10120A22092860.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
^Simmons, N.B. (2005). "Order Chiroptera". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 369. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.