François-Xavier Bélanger

François-Xavier Bélanger
Born	1833 Saint-Vallier, Quebec
Died	January 19, 1882 Quebec City
Nationality	Canadian
Fields	Natural history, entomology
Institutions	Université Laval
Known for	Museum curator, Microlepidoptera studies
Influences	Léon Abel Provancher

François-Xavier Bélanger (1833 – 19 January 1882) was a French-Canadian naturalist and museum curator. An autodidact like many naturalists of the time, he specialized in the study of Microlepidoptera. Thanks to the influence of Léon Abel Provancher and Thomas-Étienne Hamel, he became curator of the zoology museum at Université Laval, where although he did a good job of enlarging the total collection, he did so in a generally poorly organized way. He was succeeded by his assistant curator Charles-Eusèbe Dionne.

Bélanger was born in 1833 in Saint-Vallier, a small rural village on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River, and married Vitaline Fontaine. From 1846 to 1853 he studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and then taught in rural schools for a few years before returning to Quebec City where he worked at the Courrier du Canada, mainly as a proofreader. Léon Provancher noticed his published papers on insects and invited him in 1868 to write for his newly created Naturaliste Canadien. Bélanger was a good illustrator, and a relatively competent naturalist, although his major interest was entomology.

In 1869, thanks to Provancher and Thomas-Étienne Hamel, the then-Dean of the faculty of arts and General Secretary, he was appointed as curator of the zoology museum of Université Laval. From then until his death in 1882 he was charged with maintaining and enlarging the collection, though this was mostly restricted to the entomological collection after 1874, possibly because of limited space for larger specimens. During his tenure he published relatively little, all his energy being taken by the management and preparation of items for the collection. He did, however, provide specimens to other naturalists, often of new species. V.T. Chambers named two species after him in 1875, Gelechia belangerella, now Pseudotelphusa belangerella, and Argyresthia belangerella. In the 1870s, Bélanger increased communication and exchange with European specialists, and was given the task of organizing the university's exhibit for the Centennial Exposition, where he was accompanied by Hamel.

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