Justin Gerlach (zoologist)

Justin Gerlach (born July 26, 1970 ) is a British zoologist and conservationist who works in the Seychelles .

Life

Justin Gerlach's father Ron (* 1938 in Johannesburg , South Africa ) is an artist and conservationist in the Seychelles. After obtaining a Master of Arts from Wadham College in Oxford in 1991, Justin Gerlach was awarded the Christopher Welch Scholarship. In 1994 he received his doctorate with the dissertation The Ecology of the Carnivorous Snail Euglandina rosea in the department of zoology at Oxford University for Dr. phil. In 1990 he led an expedition from Oxford University to the Seychelles island of Silhouette . His research included the systematics of the wolverine snails (Enidae) in the Seychelles with records of their ecology and protection, the ecology and effects of invasive plant species in the Seychelles as well as revisions within the land snails of the Seychelles. With the money from the Christopher Welch grant he set up a research station in 1991, where he studied the Indo-Pacific molluscs in their habitats and their endangerment by the carnivorous rosy wolf snail ( Euglandina rosea ) until 1994 .

Gerlach has been researching the endemic land snail fauna of the Seychelles since 1986. Its revisions led to the description of a new hybrid taxon, ten new subspecies, twelve new species and five new genera. In addition, he rediscovered numerous species of snails believed to be extinct, including the species Glabrennea thomasseti in 2002 , which was last detected in 1905.

In 1996 Justin and Ron Gerlach identified two thought to be extinct species from the genus of Seychelles giant tortoises . Both Aldabrachelys arnoldi and Aldabrachelys hololissa have been considered lost since 1840 and have been rediscovered among turtles kept in human care. Both taxa are now considered synonymous with the Aldabra giant tortoise , as the species status was refuted in 2003 , despite Gerlach's argument that Aldabrachelys arnoldi and Aldabrachelys hololissa are valid species.

From 2000 to 2005 Gerlach was involved in the Indian Ocean Biodiversity Assessment, in which the land and freshwater fauna of all 115 Seychelles islands were recorded. Here 12 new genera and 47 new species, including a new gecko species ( Ailuronyx tachyscopaeus ) and a new frog species ( Sechellophryne pipilodryas ) were discovered.

Gerlach has been a lecturer at Peterhouse College in Cambridge since 2016 .

Dedication names

Madgeaconcha gerlachi , Mascaromyia gerlachi , Seychellonema gerlachi , Clunio gerlachi and Apozomus gerlachi are named after Justin Gerlach .

Fonts

• The land snails of Seychelles: A field guide , 1987
• Seychelles Red Data Book , 1997
• Famous tortoises , 1998
• Key biodiversity areas of the Seychelles Islands , 2005
• Lepidoptera of the Seychelles Islands , 2006
• Terrestrial and freshwater Mollusca of the Seychelles islands , 2006
• Reef and freshwater fish of Seychelles: A field guide , 2007
• Giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean: The genus Dipsochelys inhabiting the Seychelles Islands and the extinct giants of Madagascar and the Mascarenes , 2007
• Orthopteroidea of ​​the Seychelles Islands , 2008
• The Coleoptera of the Seychelles islands , 2009
• The Diptera of the Seychelles Islands (Faunistica) , 2009
• The Vertebrates of Seychelles: a Field Guide , 2009
• Darwin's Inextricable Web , 2009
• Arachnida and Myriapoda of the Seychelles Islands , 2010
• Crustacea, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Nemertea, Annelida, Rotifera and Tardigrada of the Seychelles Islands , 2011
• The Great Survivors , 2012
• Odonata, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera and Other Insects of the Seychelles Islands , 2013
• Snailing Round the South Seas: The Partula Story , 2014
• Western Indian Ocean Tortoises , 2014
• Extinct Animals of the British Isles , 2014
• Icons of Evolution: Pacific Island tree-snails of the family Partulidae , 2016
• Land and Freshwater Snails of Tahiti and the other Society Islands , 2017
• In the footprints of the first naturalist explorers: 250 years of biological exploration in Polynesia , 2018
• Essential Animals , 2020

Web links

• Justin Gerlach biography