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).
Monoplacophora, meaning "bearing one plate", is a polyphyletic superclass of molluscs with a cap-like shell, inhabiting deep sea environments. Extant representatives were not recognized as such until 1952; previously they were known only from the fossil record, and were thought to have become extinct 375 million years ago.
Prosobranchia was a large taxonomic subclass of sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. This taxon of gastropods dates back to the 1920s. It has however been proven to be polyphyletic. Generally speaking in biology taxonomy is required to reflect phylogeny, in other words the classification of a group must reflect its evolutionary descent, as far as that is known, so the taxon Prosobranchia is no longer considered suitable to be used.
Heredity is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It covers heredity in a biological sense, i.e. genetics. The journal was founded by Ronald Fisher and C. D. Darlington in 1947 and is the official journal of The Genetics Society. From 1996 the publishing was taken over by Nature Portfolio. The editor-in-chief is Sara Goodacre.
Heterobranchia, the heterobranchs, is a taxonomic clade of snails and slugs, which includes marine, aquatic and terrestrial gastropod mollusks.
Conchology is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includes the study of land and freshwater mollusc shells as well as seashells and extends to the study of a gastropod's operculum.
Conoidea is a superfamily of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the suborder Hypsogastropoda. This superfamily is a very large group of marine mollusks, estimated at about 340 recent valid genera and subgenera, and considered by one authority to contain 4,000 named living species.
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.
Dwight Willard Taylor (1932–2006) was an American malacologist and paleontologist, a researcher on mollusks. His undergraduate work was at the University of California, Berkeley and his PhD was from Harvard University.
Murex africanus is a species of large predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the rock snails or murex snails.
Felimida grahami is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.
Tambja gabrielae is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Polyceridae.
Enixotrophon arnaudi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Philippe Bouchet is a French biologist whose primary scientific fields of study are malacology and taxonomy. He works at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. He is also a Commissioner of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
The Journal of Molluscan Studies is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Malacological Society of London, covering research in malacology.
Angeline Myra Keen (1905–1986) was an American malacologist and invertebrate paleontologist. She was an expert on the evolution of marine mollusks. With a PhD in psychology. Keen went from being a volunteer, identifying shells at Stanford, and having no formal training in biology or geology, to being one of the world's foremost malacologists. She was called the "First Lady of Malacology".
Archiv für Molluskenkunde is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, covering research in malacology.
Wolfgang Karl Weyrauch (1907–1970) was a German-Peruvian malacologist and entomologist.
Rüdiger Bieler is a German-American biologist whose primary scientific field of study is malacology, the study of mollusks.
Molluscan Research is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of malacology with a preference for studies focusing on Australia and surrounding regions. The journal was established in 1957 as the Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, obtaining its current name in 1994. It was published by CSIRO from 2002 to 2004, then from 2004 to 2012 by Magnolia Press. Since 2013 the journal has been published by Taylor & Francis and the editor-in-chief is D.J. Colgan.
