Winston Frank Ponder

Winston Frank Ponder (born 1941) is a malacologist born and educated in New Zealand who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially micromolluscs.

Education and career Ponder graduated with an MSc, PhD (1968) and DSc from the University of Auckland, 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 section of the Australian Museum, Sydney, 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 and Alan Beu, resulting in a major monograph on the Antarctic bivalves, 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 conservation. One major contribution was a taxonomy of the Gastropoda, 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 of snails and slugs (their internal and external shapes and forms), and did not take into account any analysis of their DNA or RNA.

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, 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 in recognition of his Zoological work by the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Ponder was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia 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 Ponder, 1986

Families Eatoniellidae Ponder, 1965 Rastodentidae Ponder, 1966 Elachisinidae 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 (Gastropoda: Mollusca)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42(3): 717–737. PDF Ponder W. & Lindberg D. R. (2008). Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca. University of California Press, 469 pp. .