This is a list of malacologists, scientists who study mollusks, such as snails, clams, cephalopods, and others, in a discipline named malacology. People who specialize in studying only or primarily the shells of mollusks are sometimes called conchologists instead of malacologists. Many of these malacologists are notable for having named species and other taxa of mollusks.
This list focuses primarily on people who study or studied recent taxa of mollusks rather than fossil mollusks, so only a few paleontologists are included here. The list also includes researchers who devoted some of their research effort to malacology and some to other sciences. [1] [2]
Considering that mollusks are such a very large and diverse phylum of invertebrates, malacology in general is greatly understaffed in its research efforts. [3] For example, there is no living malacological expert who can properly identify all the species of Onchidiidae (about 143 species). [4] There are also not enough malacologists studying freshwater snails. [5]
Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca, the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, and cephalopods, along with numerous other kinds, many of which have shells. Malacology derives from Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós) 'soft' and -λογία (-logía).
Heinrich Wolfgang Ludwig Dohrn was a German zoologist, entomologist, and malacologist.
John Bayard Burch was an American zoologist, a biology professor at the University of Michigan, and the Curator of Mollusks at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. His research interests are broad, and have encompassed not only the anatomy, systematics, and genetics of mollusks, but also various aspects of zoogeography and parasitology. He has engaged in extensive fieldwork around the world, usually collecting mollusks, especially freshwater and terrestrial species. Some samples taken in Tahiti in 1970 have proven to be of importance in efforts to conserve vanishing kinds of the land snail Partula.
Tokubei Kuroda was a Japanese scientist and academic. He is best known as a pioneering taxonomist and malacologist specializing in Japanese marine and terrestrial Mollusca.
James Culbertson McConnell, usually abbreviated as J. C. McConnell was one of the world's most acclaimed scientific illustrators.
Charles Des Moulins, full name Charles Robert Alexandre Des Moulins was a French naturalist, a botanist and malacologist.
John Read le Brockton Tomlin was a British malacologist. He was one of the founders of the Malacological Society of London and was president of the Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland on two separate occasions.
Stefan Clessin was a German malacologist.
George Alan Solem, known professionally as Alan Solem, was an American malacologist, a biologist who studied mollusks.
William Erwood Old Jr. usually known as Bill Old, was an American malacologist.
Sauveur Abel Aubert Petit de la Saussaye (1792–1870) was a malacologist from France. His surname is: Petit de la Saussaye.
Joseph Henri Ferdinand Douvillé, also known as Henri Douvillé, was French paleontologist, geologist and malacologist. Douvillé worked as a mining engineer in Bourges (1872) and Limoges (1874), afterwards serving as professeur suppléant of paleontology at the École des Mines. From 1881 to 1911 he was a professor of paleontology at the École des Mines.
Gerard Pierre Laurent Kalshoven Gude was a malacologist from the United Kingdom.
Lothar Forcart, full name Lothar Hendrich Emil Wilhelm Forcart-Müller, abbreviated as Lothar H. E. W. Forcart, (1902-1990) was a zoologist, malacologist, and herpetologist from Switzerland.
Ernest Ruthven Sykes (1867-1954) was a malacologist from Great Britain.
Victor Sterki was a malacologist from Switzerland who lived in the United States.
Heinrich Carl Küster was a German malacologist and entomologist.
Helicarion mastersi is a species of air-breathing land snail, also referred to as a semi-slug because of its small shell. It is a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Helicarionidae.
Dominique Dupuy was a French botanist and malacologist.
Carl Agardh Westerlund was a Swedish malacologist.