Winston F. Ponder B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc. (born about 1944) is a noted malacologist from New Zealand who has named and described many marine animals, especially micromolluscs.^[1] He is a graduate of Auckland University, New Zealand.

Ponder was the principal research scientist in the malacology section of the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia. He helped to build up the museum's mollusc collection so that it became one of the most extensive of its kind in the world. Ponder retired from this post after a long career of more than forty years of research on molluscs, and he is now an Honorary Fellow.

He is also a managing editor of the Malacological Society of Australasia ^[2], the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. He has been the president of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists, and he is the managing editor of the journal Molluscan Research.

Early in his career, in 1964, he worked on Antarctic collections together with Richard Dell and Alan Beu, resulting in a major monograph on the Antarctic bivalves, chitons and scaphopods.

Ponder is the author of more than 100 research publications. Many of these are on the subjects of the freshwater molluscs of Australia, and on invertebrate conservation. However, his major contribution was a taxonomy of the Gastropoda, which he published together with David R. Lindberg in 1997 ^[3] This was the last major publication on the taxonomy of the Gastropoda that was based on the morphology of snails and slugs (their internal and external shapes and forms), and did not take into account any analysis of their DNA or RNA.

In 2008, again with David Lindberg, he edited the book "Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca" ^[4] in which 36 experts provided an up-to-date review on the evolutionary history of the Mollusca, based on reinvestigation of morphological characters, molecular data and the fossil record.

In 2008 he received the prestigious Australian Marine Sciences Association Silver Jubilee Award, for a lifetime of achievement in research on marine molluscs. ^[5]

Contents 1 Some Gastropod taxa named by Ponder 1.1 Higher taxa 1.2 Superfamilies 1.3 Families 1.4 Subfamilies 1.5 Genera 2 Taxa named after Ponder 3 Bibliography 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Some Gastropod taxa named by Ponder

[edit] Higher taxa

• Subclass Eogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
• Order Sorbeoconcha Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
• Suborder Hypsogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1997

[edit] Superfamilies

• Superfamily Glacidorboidea Ponder, 1986

[edit] Families

• Eatoniellidae Ponder, 1965
• Rastodentidae Ponder, 1966
• Elachisinidae Ponder, 1985
• Emblandidae Ponder, 1985
• Epigridae Ponder, 1985
• Amathinidae Ponder, 1987
• Calopiidae Ponder, 1999

[edit] Subfamilies

• Subfamily Pelycidiinae Ponder & Hall, 1983

[edit] Genera

• Microestea Ponder, 1965
• Rufodardanula Ponder, 1965
• Rastodens Ponder, 1966
• Rissolitorina Ponder, 1966
• Tridentifera Ponder,1966
• Fictonoba Ponder, 1967
• Pseudodiala Ponder, 1967
• Pseudestea Ponder, 1967
• Pseudoskenella Ponder, 1973
• Lirobarleeia Ponder, 1983
• Kutikina Ponder & Waterhouse, 1997 [1]
• Kessneria Walker & Ponder, 2001

[edit] Taxa named after Ponder

Ponderia Hoaurt, 1986

• Aspella ponderi Radwin & D' Attilio, 1976
• Heliacus cerdaleus ponderi Garrard, 1977
• Limatula (Stabilima) ponderi Fleming, 1978
• Echineulima ponderi Warén, 1980
• Pisinna ponderi Palazzi, 1982
• Notocrater ponderi B. A. Marshall, 1986
• Oliva (Miniaceoliva) caerulea ponderi Petuch & Sargent, 1986
• Sassia (Sassia) ponderi Beu, 1986
• Tritonoharpa ponderi Beu & Maxwell, 1987
• Favartia (Caribiella) ponderi Myers & d'Attilio, 1989
• Amalda (Alcospira) ponderi Ninomiya, 1991
• Choristella ponderi McLean, 1992
• Austrotrochaclis ponderi B. A. Marshall, 1995
• Powellisetia ponderi Numanami, 1996
• Fissidentalium ponderi Lamprell & Healy, 1998.

[edit] Bibliography

• Ponder W. F. & A. Warén (1988). "Classification of the Caenogastropoda and Heterostropha - A list of the family-group names and higher taxa". Malacological Review Supll. (4): 288–328. 
• Clark A., Miller A. C. & Ponder W. F. (2003) Revision of the snail genus Austropyrgus (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae). 109 pp.
• Ponder, W. F. (4 July 2003). "Monograph of the Australian Bithyniidae (Caenogastropoda: Rissooidea)" (in English). Zootaxa 230: 1–126. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/z00230f.pdf.  - There are 17 newly described species from the genus Gabbia.

[edit] See also

• Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Ponder & Lindberg, 1997)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• photo