Maria Schilder

Maria Schilder, née Hertrich (4 August 1898 – 30 July 1975) was a German malacologist and chemist. Along with her husband, Franz Alfred Schilder, she systematized molluscs having produced over 250 scientific papers, most on the living and fossil Cypraeidae, or cowries.

Life Maria Hertrich was born on 4 August 1898. Around 1922 she married Franz Alfred Schilder. The Schilders defined areas of endemism throughout the Indo-West Pacific based on mollusk distributions. Along with her husband, Schilder identified geographically distinct races (or subspecies) and recognized them taxonomically. Together the Schilders wrote over 250 scientific papers, most on the living and fossil Cypraeidae, or cowries.

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