Mario Lessona (18 December 1855 in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

– 25 December 1911 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

) was an Italian zoologist and

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, ...

. He was the son of the prominent natural scientist and senator

Michele Lessona Michele Lessona (20 September 1823, Venaria Reale, Piedmont – 20 July 1894, Turin) was an Italian zoologist. Michele Lessona became a specialist in amphibians. His accomplishments include the translation of certain works of Darwin, for exa ...

and his wife Adele Masi Lessona, who was very much involved in her husband's work, particularly in making translations. A son of Adele Lessona by an earlier marriage was the painter and malacologist Carlo Pollonera, with whom Mario published a monograph on Italian slugs. Mario also coauthored various scientific works with his brother-in-law, the zoologist and senator

Lorenzo Camerano Lorenzo Camerano (9 April 1856 Biella – 22 November 1917 Turin) was an Italian herpetologist and entomologist. Born in Biella in 1856 he studied in Bologna and Torino, where he settled in order to take, between 1871 and 1873, a painting ...

Biography

In the 1880s, Lessona was an assistant professor of zoology at the

University of Messina The University of Messina ( it, Università degli Studi di Messina; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the world ...

, and then a teacher of natural history at secondary schools in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

and

Carmagnola Carmagnola (; pms, Carmagnòla ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located south of Turin. The town is on the right side of the Po river. The nature of the soil determined over ...

. In the 1890s he worked as a teacher in the Fornaris-Morocco boarding school in

. He published on malacology and comparative anatomy, as well as writing several books of natural history and geography for schools. He also edited and translated further scientific works.

Taxa

Taxa named by Lessona include: * ''

Ariunculus ''Ariunculus'' is a genus of air-breathing land slugs in the family Arionidae, the roundback slugs. Sometimes it has been considered as a subgenus of ''Arion'', and sometimes the subgenus ''Ichnusarion'' has been raised to generic rank. Etymolo ...

'' Lessona, 1881 * '' Tandonia'' Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 * ''Ariunculus isselii'' Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 * ''Ariunculus speziae'' Lessona, 1881 * ''

Deroceras panormitanum ''Deroceras panormitanum'' is a species of air-breathing land slug, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Agriolimacidae. This article is about ''Deroceras panormitanum'' ''sensu stricto'', which occurs predominantly only o ...

'' (Lessona & Pollonera, 1882) * ''

Falkneria camerani ''Falkneria camerani'' is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicodontidae. This species is endemic to northwestern Italy. It is only known from five locations in Aosta Valley, Cerv ...

'' (Lessona, 1880) * ''

Lehmannia melitensis ''Lehmannia melitensis'' is a species of air-breathing land slug, a shell-less pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Limacidae. Distribution The distribution of this species includes Malta and Italy (Sicily, Aeolian Islands, Sardini ...

'' (Lessona & Pollonera, 1882) * ''Lehmannia rupicola'' Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 * ''Limax subalpinus'' Lessona, 1880 * ''Limax veronensis'' Lessona & Pollonera, 1882 * ''Phenacolimax stabilei'' (Lessona, 1880)

References

External links

Discussion in Italian internet forum

Catalogo del Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale
(enter "Lessona, Mario" in search box for list of publications) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lessona, Mario 1855 births 1911 deaths Italian zoologists Academic staff of the University of Messina Scientists from Genoa