Richard Neil "Dick" Kilburn (

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

, 7 January 1942– 26 July 2013) was a South African malacologist. He attended the University of Natal,

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

, majoring in zoology and botany and graduated in 1967. After a brief spell as a teacher, he started his career at a malacological position at the

East London Museum East London Museum is a museum in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa, notable for holding the type specimen of the coelacanth, a fish previously believed to be long extinct. It was the workplace of Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, the fish's d ...

. Already 18 months later he became the malacologist at the Natal Museum, where he would spend the rest of his career. Under his stewardship the

Mollusca Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

collection of this museum was to become by far the largest such collection in Africa. He increased the catalogued lot from 9000 specimens to nearly 150,000. He expanded considerably the book collection of the museum on key literature to establish a molluscan research centre, essential for research in these pre-computer days. He started an active programme of field research on Mollusca. In later life he specialized in the description and research of species in the family

Turridae Turridae is a taxonomic family name for a number of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Specie ...

, continuing during his retirement. He is the author or co-author of 363 new species and subspecies names and of 27 new genera and subgenera. Most of these concerned taxa from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Many of these new species were obtained, in collaboration with D.G. Herbert, during the Natal Museum Dredging Programme (1981–1993). His publications on South African marine Mollusca are numerous in peer-reviewed journal articles (102 publications), 2 books and 11 book chapters authored or co-authored by him. The publication of ''Seashells of Southern Africa'', published in 1982, was a landmark in his career. The

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific specialist ...

lists 416 taxa of marine species named by Kilburn. Fifty-one marine species were named after him in recognition of his work, including species of hermit-crab, holothurians and fish.

References

Herbert, D. G. "Obituary: Richard ('Dick') Neil Kilburn (7.01. 1942-26.07. 2013)." African Invertebrates 54.2 (2013): 557-561.

Herbert, D. G., and L. S. Davis. "Richard ('Dick') Neil Kilburn (1942-2013): Bibliography and Listings of New Taxa Named by Him and in His Honour." African Invertebrates 54.2 (2013): 563-593.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilburn, Richard South African malacologists University of Natal alumni People from Port Elizabeth 1942 births 2013 deaths