Winston Frank Ponder (born 1941) is a noted
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, ...
born and educated in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially
micromollusc
A micromollusk is a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also r ...
s.
Education and career
Ponder graduated with an MSc, PhD (1968)
and DSc from the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
, New Zealand. He completed his Ph.D while working at the Dominion Museum
but by 1969 he had taken a position at the Australian Museum, where he has remained.
Ponder was the principal research scientist in the
malacology
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, ...
section of the
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, Australia and 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 is now an Honorary Fellow of the museum.
He has been the president of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists, and was the managing editor of the journal ''Molluscan Research'' of the
Malacological Society of Australasia. for 8 years.
Early in his career, in 1964, he worked on Antarctic collections together with
Richard Dell
Richard Kenneth Dell (11 July 1920 – 6 March 2002) was a New Zealand malacologist.
Biography
Dell was born in Auckland in 1920. As a young boy, he took an interest in shells, collecting them from the shores of Waitematā Harbour. He even ...
and Alan Beu, resulting in a major monograph on the Antarctic
bivalve
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
s,
chitons and
scaphopods.
Ponder is the author of more than 300 research publications. Many of these are on the subjects of the freshwater molluscs of Australia, and on
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
conservation. One major contribution was a
taxonomy
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
of the
Gastropoda
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. ...
, which he published together with
David R. Lindberg
David R. Lindberg (1948, U.S.A.) is an American malacologist and professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the Curator for the University of California Museum of Paleontology and co-editor of the journ ...
in 1997. This was the last major publication on the taxonomy of the Gastropoda that was based on the
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
of
snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...
s and
slug
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...
s (their internal and external shapes and forms), and did not take into account any analysis of their
DNA or
RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...
.
In 2008, again with David Lindberg, he edited the book "Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca"
in which 36 experts provided an up-to-date review on the evolutionary history of 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 ...
, based on reinvestigation of
morphological characters, molecular data and the fossil record.
Honours
In 2008 Ponder received the Australian Marine Sciences Association Silver Jubilee Award for a lifetime of achievement in research on marine molluscs.
In 2009 he was awarded the
Clarke Medal
The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, the oldest learned society in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the Natural sciences.
The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Bran ...
in recognition of his Zoological work by the
Royal Society of New South Wales
The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society.
The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...
.
Some Gastropod taxa named by Ponder
Higher taxa
* Subclass
Eogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
* Order
Sorbeoconcha
Sorbeoconcha is a taxonomic clade of snails, i.e. gastropods, mainly marine species with gills and opercula, within the clade Caenogastropoda.
The taxon Sorbeoconcha was named by Winston Ponder and David R. Lindberg in 1997.
Taxonomy
1 ...
Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
* Suborder
Hypsogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
Superfamilies
* Superfamily
Glacidorboidea
The Glacidorbidae is a taxonomic family of freshwater snails.
Taxonomy 2005 taxonomy
Glacidorbidae is the only family in the superfamily Glacidorboidea. Glacidorboidea has been classified within the informal group Lower Heterobranchia in th ...
Ponder, 1986
Families
*
Eatoniellidae Ponder, 1965
*
Rastodentidae
''Rastodentidae'' is a taxonomic family of minute sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha
Littorinimorpha is a large order of snails, gastropods, consisting primarily of sea snails (marine species), but also in ...
Ponder, 1966
*
Elachisinidae
Elachisinidae is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Truncatelloidea and the order Littorinimorpha
Littorinimorpha is a large order of snails, gastropods, consisting primarily of sea snails (marine species) ...
Ponder, 1985
*
Emblandidae Ponder, 1985
*
Epigridae
Epigridae is a family of very small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Truncatelloidea, and clade Littorinimorpha
Littorinimorpha is a large order of snails, gastropods, consisting primarily of sea snails (marine species) ...
Ponder, 1985
*
Amathinidae
Amathinidae, is a taxonomic family mostly consisting of small and minute sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the superfamily Pyramidelloidea.
Together with Pyramidellidae, Ebalidae, Turbonillidae, Odostomid ...
Ponder, 1987
*
Calopiidae
Calopiidae is a family of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Truncatelloidea
Truncatelloidea is a superfamily of snails, gastropod mollusks in the clade Caenogastropoda.Bouchet, P. (2013). ''Truncatelloidea''. Retrie ...
Ponder, 1999
Subfamilies
* Subfamily
Pelycidiinae Ponder & Hall, 1983
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
''Lirobarleeia'' is a genus of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Barleeiidae.
Species
Species within the genus ''Lirobarleeia'' include:
*'' Lirobarleeia albolirata'' (Carpenter, 1864)
*'' Lirobarleeia b ...
''
Ponder, 1983
* ''
Kutikina''
Ponder & Waterhouse, 1997* ''
Kessneria''
Walker & Ponder, 2001
Taxa named after Ponder
Genera
* ''
Ponderia
''Ponderia'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Muricinae of the family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or oth ...
''
Hoaurt, 1986
* ''
Ponderconcha''
Clark, 2009
Species in temporal order
* ''
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'' (''Favartia'') ''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
* ''
Posticobia ponderi''
Clark, 2009
* ''
Amplirhagada ponderi''
Köhler, 2010
Publications
*
* Clark S. A., Miller A. C. & Ponder W. F. (2003) ''Revision of the snail genus Austropyrgus (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae)''. 109 pp.
* - There are 17 newly described species from the genus ''
Gabbia''.
* Colgan D. J., Ponder W. F., Beacham E. & Macaranas J. (2006). "Molecular phylogenetics of
Caenogastropoda
Caenogastropoda is a taxonomic clade, a large diverse group which are mostly sea snails and other marine gastropod mollusks, but also includes some freshwater snails and some land snails. The clade is the most diverse and ecologically successfu ...
(Gastropoda: Mollusca)". ''
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of evolutionary biology and phylogenetics. The journal is edited by E.A. Zimmer.
Indexing
The journal is indexed in:
*EMBiology
*Journal Citation Reports
*Scopus
...
'' 42(3): 717–737.
PDF* Ponder W. & Lindberg D. R. (2008). ''Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca''. University of California Press, 469 pp. .
See also
*
Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Ponder & Lindberg, 1997)
The taxonomy of the Gastropoda, as revised by Winston Ponder and David R. Lindberg in 1997, is an older taxonomy of the class Gastropoda, the class of molluscs consisting of all snails and slugs. The full name of the work in which this taxonom ...
References
External links
photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponder, Winston
1944 births
New Zealand malacologists
New Zealand biologists
New Zealand marine biologists
New Zealand zoologists
Living people
University of Auckland alumni