Winston Frank Ponder (born 1941) is a
malacologist
Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...
born and educated in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially
micromollusc
A micromollusc is a shelled mollusc which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine molluscs, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater molluscs also ...
s.
Education and career
Ponder graduated with an MSc, PhD (1968) and DSc from the
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...
, 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, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...
section of the
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...
,
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, 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 () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...
s,
chiton
Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora ( ), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized.
They are also sometimes known as sea cradles or coat-of-mail shells or suck ...
s and
scaphopod
Scaphopoda (plural scaphopods , from Ancient Greek σκᾰ́φης ''skáphē'' "boat" and πούς ''poús'' "foot"), whose members are also known as tusk shells or tooth shells, are a class (biology), class of shelled Marine life, marine inve ...
s.
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 animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
conservation. One major contribution was a
taxonomy
image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy
Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...
of the
Gastropoda
Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...
, which he published together with
David R. Lindberg 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 a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...
s and
slug
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, 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 ...
s (their internal and external shapes and forms), and did not take into account any analysis of their
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
or
RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...
.
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 a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...
, 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 Branwh ...
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. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Society traces its ...
.
Ponder was appointed a
Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
in the
2024 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to scientific research, particularly invertebrate and conservation biology".
Some Gastropod taxa named by Ponder
His zoological author abbreviation is Ponder. He has authored over 500 taxa.
Higher taxa
* Subclass
Eogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
* Order
Sorbeoconcha Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
* Suborder
Hypsogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1997
Superfamilies
* Superfamily
Glacidorboidea
The Glacidorbidae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of freshwater snails.
Taxonomy 2005 taxonomy
Glacidorbidae is the only family in the superfamily Glacidorboidea. Glacidorboidea has been classified within the info ...
Ponder, 1986
Families
*
Eatoniellidae Ponder, 1965
*
Rastodentidae Ponder, 1966
*
Elachisinidae
Elachisinidae is a family (biology), family of sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Truncatelloidea and the order Littorinimorpha.Gofas, S. (2012). Elachisinidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Spec ...
Ponder, 1985
*
Emblandidae Ponder, 1985
*
Epigridae Ponder, 1985
*
Amathinidae Ponder, 1987
*
Calopiidae 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''
Ponder, 1983
* ''
Kutikina''
Ponder & Waterhouse, 1997
* '' Kessneria'' Walker & Ponder, 2001
Taxa named after Ponder
Genera
* ''
Ponderia''
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 subclass of molluscs in the class Gastropoda. It is 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 subcla ...
(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)
*
Taxa named by Winston Ponder
References
External links
photoWikidata query of taxa named by Winston Ponder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponder, Winston
1944 births
Living people
New Zealand malacologists
Members of the Order of Australia
New Zealand marine biologists
New Zealand zoologists
University of Auckland alumni