Jules Prosper Goudot, French naturalist, should not be confused with his brother Justin Marie Goudot (1802-1847), who was also a naturalist. They both collected for the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, Justin mainly in Colombia and Jules mainly in Madagascar.
Jules Goudot began collecting for the museum in 1827 in Tangier (now Tanger, Morocco). In August the next year he sailed for Madagascar and on his way stayed at the Cape of Good Hope from 21 to 30 December, 1828. He has been credited with collecting the first specimen of the genus Peripatus in South Africa, on Table Mountain. His finds were described as Peripatus brevis by De Blainville in 1837. These terrestrial animals belong to the phylum Arthropoda - which includes insects, crustaceans, arachnids, etc, - but have a number of worm-like features.
Continuing his journey, Jules proceeded to the island Bourbon (now Reunion), from where he sent specimens to Paris. After collecting there for some three months he worked in Madagascar, returning to France in September 1830. He arrived in Madagascar again in September 1831, also visited Mauritius, and returned to France in 1833. Soon thereafter he was in Madagascar again, where he learned Malagasy and married a local woman. He eventually left in 1857 when all Europeans on the island were expelled following an attempted plot to overthrow the reigning queen, and died soon after. During these years he collected a wide variety of specimens and had numerous species named after him, mainly insects and other invertebrates, but also some reptiles.
Jules Goudot wrote a letter to the Natural History Society of Mauritius describing a remarkable phenomenon observed in Madagascar (larvae of Aphrophora Judoti, a plant feeding insect). The letter was read before the Zoological Society of London and published in their Proceedings in 1833.
