Career
He conducted studies of fossils found in the calcareous limestone at the Cerin quarry, located 80 kilometers east of Lyon, from which, he described numerous paleoichthyological species. He is the taxonomic authority of the genera Holochondrus, Spathobatis, Belemnobatis and Phorcynis. The feather star species Solanocrinites thiollieri was named after him by paleontologist Perceval de Loriol.
His family donated his collection of fossils to the Muséum de Lyon, comprising 1702 items primarily from the Rhône-Alpes region, with 699 coming from the Cerin deposit (30 holotypes).