Maria Schilder, née Hertrich (4 August 1898 – 30 July 1975) was a German

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

and chemist. Along with her husband,

Franz Alfred Schilder Franz Xaver Alfred Johann Schilder (born 13 April 1896 in Královské Vinohrady, now a district of Prague, died 11 August 1970 in Halle ) was an Austrian-born German biologist, taxonomist, malacologist and honorary professor of animal geography. ...

, she systematized molluscs having produced over 250 scientific papers, most on the living and fossil ''

Cypraeidae Cypraeidae, commonly named the cowries ( cowry), is a taxonomic family of small to large sea snails. These are marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies. Shell description Cypraeidae have adult s ...

'', or cowries.

Life

Maria Hertrich was born on 4 August 1898. She was from Munich. Around 1922 she married Franz Alfred Schilder. They had one daughter Franzisca who died in 1961. Maria Schilder died 30 July 1975.

Work

Being initially a chemist, Schilder switched her professional focus to the study of molluscs. Together with her husband, Franz Alfred, Schilder studied the family ''Cypraeidae'', the cowries. The Schilders defined areas of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

throughout the Indo-West Pacific based on mollusk distributions. Along with her husband, Schilder identified geographically distinct races (or subspecies) and recognized them

taxonomically In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

. In ''“Revision of the Genus Monetaria (Cypraeidae)”'' they researched how

Bergmann’s Rule Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer ...

applied to east coastal Australia where the shells are smaller in the warmer north. Together the Schilders wrote over 250 scientific papers, most on the living and fossil ''Cypraeidae'', or cowries. After the death of her husband, Schilder published ''A Catalog of Living and Fossil Cowries'' in 1971''.'' Schilder is honored in the cowry name '' Annepona mariae'' (Schilder, 1927) and her daughter Franzisca is honored in the cowry name ''Bistolida hirundo francisca'' (Schilder & Schilder, 1938).

Publications (selection)

* 1930 – ''Variationsstatistische studien an Monetaria annulus (Moll. Gastr. Cypraeidae)'' * 1938 – ''Prodrome of a monograph on living Cypraeidae'' * 1949 – ''Beiträge zur taxonomischen Zoologie'' * 1952 – ''Die Kaurischnecke'' * 1954 – ''Zahl und Verbreitung der Käfer'' * 1971 – ''A catalogue of living and fossil cowries. Taxonomy and bibliography of Triviacea and Cypraeacea''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schilder, Maria 1898 births 1975 deaths German malacologists 20th-century German chemists German women chemists 20th-century German zoologists 20th-century German women scientists