Gaston Portevin

Gaston Portevin (1869–1946) and his brother Henri (1874-1945) were French naturalist and entomologist. He specialized in the beetles and wrote several books including a monograph of the Silphidae which he called as "necrophages".

Portevin was born in Évreux and was introduced into entomology by Maurice Auguste Régimbart. He collected beetles extensively, became a part of the Paris beetle-collecting circle and became a subscriber of the Miscellanea entomologica. He was a friend of the publisher Paul Lechevalier through whom he produced several books on beetles. Portevin produced a key to the French Cerambycidae in 1927. Another major work was Histoire naturelle des coléoptères de France when he produced from 1929 to 1935 which sought to be an exhaustive catalogue of all the beetles of France. He also collected diptera and wrote on a variety of natural history topics including reviews of books, mushrooms, edible insects, interesting plants, and sea grasses. His collection of Silphidae was acquired by Maurice Pic. Portevin's younger brother Henri was also interested in beetles. He worked as a bank manager in Marne.