Amer. Malac. Bull. 36(1): 158–170 (2018)
Robert Robertson (1934−2018): His career, taxa, and bibliography
Paula M. Mikkelsen1 and Rüdiger Bieler1
1
Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496,
pmm37@cornell.edu, rbieler@fieldmuseum.org
Abstract: Robert Robertson (1934−2018) was systematic malacologist, natural historian, and reproductive biologist, focusing on marine
gastropods and based at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (ANSP) for most of his career. An account of his professional life
is presented, based in part on a brief autobiography here included. Lists of his 142 publications (published and unpublished, formal and
informal) and 13 taxa, as well as taxa named for him and publications written about him, are provided.
Key words: malacologist, Bahamas, Mollusca, Gastropoda, biography
The field of malacology lost a long-term friend and colleague with the passing on January 2, 2018, of Robert
Robertson in Haddonfield, New Jersey (Fig. 1). Robertson’s
career spanned more than 60 years, and included systematic
revision of marine gastropods, studies of their reproductive
biology, larval development, ecology, feeding, biotic inventory
(especially of the Bahamas), and one of the first malacological
applications of scanning electron microscopy.
In 2010, Robertson wrote a short, informal autobiography
covering his early years, and shared it with a few colleagues.
The edited text (with final ANSP-period paragraphs by Harriet
Robertson) is presented here in italic font:
Early Years. I was born on November 14, 1934, near the village of Great
Waldingfield, in the county of Suffolk, England. My mother (née Katherine
Anne West) was an artist and gardener (West, 1928), and my father
(David William) retired young from the London Stock Exchange. He
enjoyed boats and fixing up houses. In 1955, he traversed the Atlantic
solo in a small yacht, encountering a hurricane far out at sea. He was
buried at sea in 1977 near Dead Man’s Chest, a tiny islet in the British
Virgin Islands. My parents had the waterlust.
My interest in natural history was sparked about 1942 when we
lived in the Bahamas (first northern Eleuthera Island, then Nassau,
New Providence Island). First, I liked fishes, then birds, then flowering
plants. Back in England after World War II, I continued to bird and
botanize. Back in the West Indies in 1948 and 1949, in Jamaica and
during a return to the Bahamas, I continued botanizing. I also began to
collect shells. My first shell, collected at age 14, was a Jamaican Cassis
tuberosa (now ANSP no. 284970). In England again, I was at a Quaker,
co-educational, vegetarian boarding school (St. Christopher School,
Letchworth, Hertforshire). Meanwhile, my parents settled in a cabanon
(rock-built house) surrounded by a vineyard near St. Tropez in the
south of France, well before St. Tropez became a playground of the rich.
My father was a member of a wine cooperative that processed our grapes.
I went to St. Tropez during my school holidays and continued to botanize and collect shells even more avidly. My St. Tropez shell collection is
now also at ANSP. Although mainly beach-collected, it is a valuable
component of our Mediterranean holdings, with numerous specimens of
many species.
Tahiti. In late January to late August 1952, my parents and I were at
Tahiti, French Polynesia. We were stimulated to go there by friends and
a book by t’Serstevens (1950). We also visited briefly some of the other
Society Islands (Moorea, Raiatea, and Porapora [‘Borabora’]). We lived
in two thatched huts by the sea in the village of Atiue, District of
Punaauia. We ate outdoors under a cashew nut tree (Anacardium occidentale). Centipedes fell on us and occupied our empty shoes. I became
fairly proficient in French, bicycled around, and continued to botanize.
Figure 1. Robert Robertson, 1996, in Haddonfield, New Jersey.
(Photo by Paul Callomon)
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ROBERT ROBERTSON BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
Unfortunately, though, I did not make a herbarium. I did, though, publish my first biological paper (Robertson, 1952), a compiled list of the
ferns of French Polynesia. A botanical high point was seeing in profuse
flower the endemic lobeliaceous genus and species Apetahia raiateensis
in the hills of Raiatea. I had Drake del Castillo’s (1893) French Polynesia
flora for reference. I was welcomed at the Musée de Papeete by a lady
named Aurora Natua. They had some of the publications of the Bishop
Museum (Honolulu, Hawaii), which I devoured avidly.
At Tahiti, I continued most actively to collect mainly marine mollusks, preferring whenever possible live-collected to empty shells. I also kept
habitat data when I could. I skin dived and swam in lagoons, walked on
reef ramparts (even at night with a kerosene lamp, when the moray eels
were everywhere), but did not dredge. This collection too was later incorporated into ANSP’s holdings (Robertson, 1953); it is perhaps still the
best for Tahiti outside of France. In Tahiti, I had access to Dautzenberg
and Bouge’s (1933) list of the marine mollusks of the region.
I have wonderful memories of Tahiti as it used to be. The island
was more like Jamaica than the low-lying Bahamas. Mount Orohena
was almost perpetually hidden by clouds and was surrounded by steep
slopes. Because it consists of crumbling rock, Orohena was virtually
unclimbable. The southeast, windward side of the island was rainy and
developed lush, tropical vegetation. In February, the rain poured every
afternoon. The streams were swift-flowing, rocky, and there were waterfalls in places. Wild fe’i bananas (Musa cf. fesi) grew in the hills and
were brought to the coast to be eaten (MacDaniels, 1947). The ti plant
(Cordyline terminalis or C. fruticosa) grew wild and was conspicuous
(Guillaumin et al., 1946). Small estuaries formed where the streams met
the sea, and these caused breaks in the otherwise nearly continuous fringing or barrier reefs. The sands were black or white, depending on whether
they were of volcanic or limestone origin. The leeward side of the island
had sparse, dry, mainly bushy vegetation, with a common component
being introduced Lantana. Coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) grew mainly
in groves near the sea and sometimes overhung it. The natives were
adept at climbing up the palms to get the nuts. Breadfruit (Artocarpus
altilis), of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame, was still common and the big
starchy fruit could be cooked and eaten (Wilder, 1928).
By western standards, the natives were relaxed. One of their most
endearing attributes was their great love of children. The beauty of the
young women (vahinés) was well recorded by Gaugin. A large Chinese
population contributed the active traders and restauranteurs of the
islands. I also remember outrigger canoes (to be capsized one way and
not the other), ‘hula’ dancing in grass skirts with rhythmic drumming,
pareus (colorful cloth wrap-arounds), tapa cloth (old-fashioned wraparounds), and the spectacular outline of Moorea on the horizon. And
finally, there was the nearly intractable Tahitian language (like Hawaiian
but with T’s replacing the K’s). It had adopted some English words, e.g.,
‘hapaina’ (from ‘half pinter’) (Vernier, 1948). We saw first-hand that it
takes great talent for a westerner successfully to ‘go native,’ and my parents and I did not achieve this. A return ticket was already required of
most people arriving at the island.
As I left the island on a seaplane heading west to Fiji, I saw the
Tahiti airport being built. In doing so, they ruined a beautiful lagoon,
and the later influx of tourists meant that the island would no longer be
pristine, as I had seen it.
Stanford. My early formal schooling had been poor. Nevertheless, I was
accepted by Stanford University (near Palo Alto, California) and went
there in the fall of 1952 as a freshman. I intended to become a botanist,
but a botanist there gave me the cold shoulder. However, I was most
graciously received by A. Myra Keen, the well-known malacologist and
paleontologist (Robertson, 1986a). She is most famous for her book Sea
Shells of Tropical West America (Keen, 1971) and gave me informal
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training in taxonomy and malacology all through my undergraduate
years. Early on, Keen involved me in scientific nomenclature, focusing on
the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Much work for that, including a detailed nomenclatural review of the ‘subgenera’ of Conus, submitted about 1956, was never published. Many comments and notes
appeared in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature.
In June and July 1955, I went with my Stanford roommate
Augustus ‘Gus’ W. Scott, Jr., on a Glen Canyon Expedition on the
Colorado River, beginning at Hite, Utah, and ending where later Lake
Powell would be created by a big dam. The river carried much silt, and
the ‘lake’ became muddy quickly. We were on a rubber raft, and we
walked up some of the side canyons, most notably to Rainbow Bridge.
We even climbed Mount Navajo. We recorded the biology as best we
could, but I saw no mollusks. A caddis-fly larva (Helicopsyche) gave me
pause because it makes a spiral shell out of agglutinated sand grains
(Inskip, 1955; Topping, 1997).
In my senior year at Stanford (1955−1956), and with field trips
near Hopkins Marine Station (Pacific Grove, California), I took a course
on marine invertebrates given by Donald P. Abbott, an inspiring teacher
(Newberry and Hadfield, 1986). He opened my eyes to malacology
beyond their shells and scientific names. He also made it possible for me
to spend several hours alone with the great Sir Maurice (C. M.) Yonge,
who was then visiting Hopkins (Heppell, 1986; Morton, 1986; Allen,
1987; Hedgpeth, 1987). Yonge’s enthusiasm for functional morphology
was thrilling. At Hopkins, the nearby marine biota was spectacular.
Abalones (Haliotis) were still common, and algal palm trees (Postelsia)
grew in the surf. And it was also there that I had my first girlfriend (Jean
Burch).
In 1953 through 1955, my parents were again living in the
Bahamas, this time in Hope Town, Abaco. During summer holidays
from Stanford, I collected and studied marine mollusks there, once with
Gus along. My large collection from Abaco is now at ANSP.
Although as a freshman I nearly flunked out (because of culture
shock), I graduated from Stanford in 1956 with honors and an A.B. in
Biological Sciences. I was then eager to travel east and meet other U.S.
malacologists in that galaxy. In retrospect, I should have tarried in the
West to enjoy more the better marine biota there.
ANSP and Woods Hole. I first went to ANSP as a Jessup student in June
and July 1956. R. Tucker Abbott, the great popularizer of shell collecting
as well as a good systematist, was then Chairman of the Department of
Mollusks (later Malacology). Thanks to his fund-raising skills, the
Pilsbry Chair of Malacology became 2½-legged from private sources, a
real triumph (Scheu, 1955; Harasewych, 1997). Virgina Orr (later Maes)
was his assistant, in effect a collection manager (Robertson, 1987b). She
was a superb curator, went on many of the expeditions to the IndoPacific and elsewhere, and did excellent biologically-oriented research.
They both gave me every encouragement. The great Henry A. Pilsbry
was still alive (Clench and Turner, 1962), and I was able to have a tenminute talk with him (until he got bored, wanting to get back to his
writing). I successfully completed a study of Cantharus systematics
(Robertson, 1957c) during this visit.
In the second half of that summer, I was at Woods Hole
(Massachusetts), taking the marine invertebrate course at the Marine
Biological Laboratory (MBL). I enjoyed the living animals although the
marine fauna was not as spectacular as that on the West Coast. During
a field trip, I found and yelled out about an ‘Odostomia,’ which brought
me in touch with the great German malacologist Wulf Emmo Ankel,
who happened to be along (Götting, 1984). Before and after that, he
published distinguished research on Odostomia and other pyramidellids. This led to my first malacological paper with a biological slant
(Robertson, 1957a). Although it is only a page and a half long, the great
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Danish marine biologist Gunnar Thorson wrote a nice letter, urging me
to continue such studies (Lemche, 1971). To this day, even if I do not
always agree with Thorson, I am still studying pyramidellids.
Harvard. Although in a sense my career had already started before graduate school, I went in the fall of 1956 to Harvard University (Cambridge,
Massachusetts) to study for my Ph.D. under William J. Clench, malacologist at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). I had much
informal guidance also from Ruth D. Turner (see Johnson, 2003, on
them both). I wanted to learn how to write a Johnsonia monograph,
which I ultimately did. I found Turner stimulating, and Ernst Mayr,
with whom I had some contact, unusually impressive. I found the
Massachusetts winters extremely unpleasant, and the first one was made
worse by the death of my mother in The Netherlands. Undergraduate
physics, which I had managed to avoid at Stanford, was almost my
undoing as well.
In the summer of 1957 and much of the summer of 1958, I worked
at the erstwhile Lerner Marine Laboratory (Bimini, Bahamas, run by
the American Museum of Natural History [AMNH], New York City)
(Fig. 2). I was in a group headed by Norman D. Newell (AMNH and
Columbia University) studying the geology and descriptive marine ecology of the northwestern Great Bahama Bank (Newell et al., 1959). I
identified marine mollusks and wrote habitat notes.
As an interlude to my marine work while in graduate school, I was
in the southern Bahamas, collecting land snails for Clench. In August
and September 1958, in the company of my father and college friend
Gus, and using a native sloop, we collected at the Acklins, Crooked, and
Fortune Islands. In a paper late in a series on the land snails of different
Figure 2. Robertson in Bimini, July 1958. (Robertson photo collection)
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36 1 2018
island groups in the Bahamas, Clench (1963) worked up this collection,
which is now at the MCZ. He named Plagioptycha scotti for Gus, and
Microceramus (Spiroceramus) robertsoni for me. The latter was known
only from one drilled (and cracked?) shell.
My work in Bimini led to my Harvard Ph.D. thesis (Robertson,
1959). Although this was accepted, it was an ill-conceived, aborted study
of the marine molluscan fauna and its ecology (a tall order!). Deservedly,
it was never published although bits and pieces later led to short papers.
My Bimini collection is now also at ANSP. I consider my phasianellid
monograph in Johnsonia (Robertson, 1958a) to be my best Harvard
accomplishment.
I met my first wife, Marian Esther Ropes, when we were fellow lab
instructors in elementary biology at Harvard. We were married October
3, 1959. My father and Gus attended the wedding, which was held in a
church at Beverly, Massachusetts (her home town). We honeymooned at
Rockport, Cape Ann, a lovely New England town frequented by fishermen and artists. Marian taught me to drive a Volkswagen bus given to
us by her parents.
ANSP. [R. Tucker Abbott of the Academy of Natural Sciences reportedly told Bill Clench to send Robertson to Philadelphia as soon as he
completed his Ph.D.] In June of 1960, I started work at ANSP (Fig. 3).
Marian and I had an apartment in West Philadelphia and I walked to
work. Marian continued her research on mosses and we spent weekends
in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, botanizing and photographing. We
Figure 3. Robertson in 1960, the year that he joined the staff of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. (Robertson photo
collection)
ROBERT ROBERTSON BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
moved into a large Victorian house on Second Street in Moorestown,
New Jersey. Later we bought a smaller Cape Cod on West Spruce on a
large wooded lot backed up to Pompeston Creek. In December 1968,
Pamela Lucinda Robertson (now Kaplan) was born and accompanied
us on many field trips here and in the Bahamas.
Tucker Abbott left ANSP in 1970 to become Curator of Mollusks
at the new Delaware Museum of Natural History, and I became
Curator, Head of the Department of Malacology, and recipient of the
Pilsbry Chair at ANSP. I searched for a second malacologist and hired
George M. Davis who was at the 406th Army Medical Laboratory in
Japan doing research on schistosomiasis vectors.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disease in 1972 and, at around the
same time, Marian was diagnosed with breast cancer. Marian’s mother
came to live with us as Marian declined. So those years were rather rocky.
Marian died in hospital in 1975.
George’s wife Harriet (née Hopkins, known to everyone as ‘Happy’)
worked at ANSP on artwork, histology, photography, and research in
Malacology. George and Happy had two daughters, Lynne (now of
Spotsylvania, Virginia) and Julia (now of Spokane, Washington). George
and Happy separated after her father died, and by the time of Marian’s
death, they were divorced, and George had remarried. During the summer, all of the children—Pamela, Lynne, Julie, and Caryl Hesterman’s
children Chris and Margaret—were all baby sat together while all of us
‘singles’ went to work at ANSP. [Caryl Hesterman was at that time a
research assistant to George Davis].
In 1976, Happy went to work at the University of Pennsylvania and
we started to date. In 1979, we went together to the World Symposium
on Molluscs in Sydney, Australia. C. M. Yonge was there, and I gave a
paper. After the meeting, we spent two weeks on Lizard Island with
many attendees and I collected 365 lots from the Great Barrier Reef for
the Academy alcohol collection. I married Happy on April 12, 1980, and
we put an addition on her house in Haddonfield, New Jersey, so that all
three girls could have their own rooms.
I continued my research at ANSP while Happy stopped working to
blend our two families. All three daughters graduated from college in
four years. Pamela was valedictorian of her high school class and got a
full scholarship to Drew University, where she graduated cum laude.
Julie went to Marietta College, her mother and father’s alma mater, and
did her student teaching in New Zealand. Lynne went to Hood College
and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in teaching. Happy volunteered with American Brittany Rescue, taught horseback riding, and
did oil painting.
Academy Career
Robertson worked at only one institution during his
entire career. Hired by R. Tucker Abbott as Assistant Curator
of ANSP Malacology in 1960, he stepped up to Associate
Curator with tenure in 1965, and Curator in 1976. He held
the Pilsbry Chair of Malacology from 1969 until 1972. He took
early retirement on disability in 1988, at that point becoming
Emeritus Curator. Throughout his retirement years, he maintained a small office at ANSP and returned frequently to work
on manuscripts, use the library and collection, and converse
with colleagues. He and Happy delighted in attending special
events to meet new staff and guest lecturers.
Robertson was a co-founder of Malacologia (ISSN 00762997), a peer-reviewed journal focused on the study of mollusks that is published by the Institute of Malacology. He was
a Sponsor Member (Trustee) of the Institute from 1961 to
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1988; publication began in 1962. He served as President of
the Institute from 1973 to 1975, and co-Editor in Chief (with
George Davis) from 1977 to 1988. He became Emeritus
Member of the Institute in 1988 and served in that capacity
until the early 1990s.
Robertson was a passionate field biologist, collecting
and working at marine laboratories in New Jersey (1960 and
thereafter); southern Florida (1960); British Honduras (now
Belize, 1961; Fig. 4); Plymouth, England (1962); Swans Island,
Maine (1967); Beaufort, North Carolina (1967, 1977); Pacific
Grove, California (1969); Bermuda (1970); British Virgin Islands
(1973); Gulf of California, Mexico (1975); Great Barrier Reef,
Australia (1979); Barbados (1980), and the Turks and Caicos
Islands (2003). In the first half of 1964, supported by the
National Science Foundation, he participated in the International Indian Ocean Expedition in Gulf of Mannar, Cape
Comorin, Cochin Harbour, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and the
Maldive Islands on board the R/V Te Vega. A 1966 cruise
aboard the R/V Atlantis II dredged abyssal depths from
Bermuda to Woods Hole, Massachusetts. International meetings and workshops also comprised a large part of his professional activities, in London (1962), Geneva (1971), Rovinj,
Yugoslavia (now Croatia, 1971, 1973), Lyon, France (1973),
Milan (1974), and Sydney (1979).
Robertson was the recipient of research grants from the
National Science Foundation for his work on Architectonicidae,
Epitoniidae, and Pyramidellidae in 1969−1971 and 1977−1980.
He was also a co-recipient on two major collection improvement grants to support the Academy’s growing collections
in 1972−1977 and 1980−1982. Over the course of his 28-year
tenure at ANSP, Robertson contributed over 10,000 specimen lots to the collection.
Figure 4. Robertson sorting dredge samples collected by the R/V
Vickey, off Punta Gorda, British Honduras (now Belize), August 1961.
The ship was so crowded that Robertson chose to sort his samples in
the dinghy being towed behind the ship. (Courtesy of H. Robertson)
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His roots in the Bahamas played an important role in his
later years. Following retirement, he embarked on a book
project on the ‘Marine Mollusks of the Bahamas’ with Jack
Worsfold and Colin Redfern. During the 1990s, he visited the
Delaware Museum of Natural History weekly to work on various aspects of the book; he was awarded a Research Associate
position at DMNH in 1995. Although much to his disappointment, it was never published in book form, portions of the
text resulted in several natural history accounts (e.g., Robertson,
2003a, 2007a). Although not exclusively malacological,
Robertson was honored to contribute an invited chapter to
the tercentennial publication for Mark Catesby, an English
naturalist who studied and collected the flora and fauna of
the southern colonies and the Bahamas from 1712−1726
(Robertson, 2011a, 2015).
Professional Activities
Robert Robertson joined the American Malacological
Union (now Society) early in his career; he first appears in the
published membership list in 1953 (AMU, 1953: 49, as “General
Delivery, Stanford, Calif. Taxonomy, Polynesian mollusks”)
while he was an undergraduate student. His first meeting was
with the Pacific Division in 1955 at Asilomar, California. He
first appears in an AMU group photo at the annual meeting
at Yale University in 1957 during his graduate years at
Harvard (Fig. 5). He remained an active member of AMU/
AMS for the remainder of his life; even when too ill to attend
a meeting, he would eagerly devour the program and stories
brought to him by colleagues. He served as Councilor-atLarge in 1967 and 1969, and on the Auditing Committee in
1968. He organized a symposium in 1970 at the Key West
meeting entitled ‘Biological Systematics of Marine Bivalves
and Gastropods,’ which included nine presented papers. He
began his climb to the society’s highest office as Vice President
in 1982. In 1983, as President Elect, he organized a workshop
(with Stuart Lillico) on ‘Malacological Publications, Amateur
and Professional.’ He served as an associate editor of the
American Malacological Bulletin from its inception in 1983
until 1988.
As President of AMU in 1984, Robertson organized his
annual meeting at the Holiday Inn Waterside in Norfolk,
Virginia (Fig. 6). He chose this venue not for any professional
connection, but on the advice of a colleague who suggested it
was a good place to hold a meeting, with a supportive shell
club to assist. The Norfolk meeting was the fiftieth annual
meeting of the Society, held July 22–27. The National Capital
Shell Club and Philadelphia Shell Club served as co-hosts.
The meeting logo (Fig. 7) was of the pyramidellid gastropod
Fargoa bartschi (Winkley, 1909) with its spermatophore, an
original camera lucida drawing by Robertson of one of his
active research subjects. From a membership of 656 that year,
there were 180 attendees at the meeting, and 89 papers and
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36 1 2018
Figure 5. Graduate-student Robertson (left) with (left to right) William
K. Emerson, Joseph C. Bequaert, and William J. Clench (Robertson’s
advisor), at the AMU meeting at Yale University, 1957. All four served
as presidents of AMU (Clench - 1935, Bequaert - 1954, Emerson 1962, Robertson - 1984). (AMS archives)
8 posters presented. There were symposia on larval ecology
and on the physiological ecology of freshwater mollusks, and
Robertson himself organized a special session, ‘Malacological
Medley,’ with invited lectures on diverse topics. Other highlights of Robertson’s meeting were workshops on the molluscan fauna of Virginia and the Carolinas and on studying
veliger larvae, an auction of shells and books, commercial and
noncommercial exhibits, an identification clinic, and a meeting
of taxonomists working on the Dominican Republic Paleontology Project. Four field trips were offered, to a Pliocene fossil
pit, collecting veligers, marine dredging in Lower Chesapeake
Bay, and freshwater collecting.
Robertson served on Council among the many living
Past Presidents in 1985 and 1986. In 1987, when AMU reduced
the size of Council by limiting the number of Past Presidents
Figure 6. The official meeting group photo at Robertson’s AMU
meeting in Norfolk, July 1984. Robertson is front and center, with
his wife Happy at his right. (AMS archives)
ROBERT ROBERTSON BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
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Personal Life
Robertson had many interests outside of malacology.
Dating back to his youth, he enjoyed flowering plant taxonomy and photography. He loved listening to, and sharing, Renaissance, classical, calypso, Andean, Indian, and
world music. Romance languages also held serious interest;
he took a course in conversational French and attended a
French club lunch well into his retirement years. He also
enjoyed art history, film (especially anything set in places
that he had visited), and current world events.
The home that he shared with Happy in Haddonfield,
New Jersey, was often offered to long-term visitors, including
international newcomers to the Academy community. Family
too was important, especially his cousin Julia from England
and his eight grandchildren (Elijah, Izador, Aiden, Timothy,
Rebecca, Jonathan, Neil, and Dean).
Robertson became a naturalized U. S. citizen on July
14, 1995. He celebrated by wearing red, white, and blue
suspenders.
Figure 7. The logo of Robertson’s AMU meeting in Norfolk, 1984,
featuring a pyramidellid gastropod with its spermatophore, appeared on the meeting program and T-shirt. The art was based on a
camera lucida drawing by Robertson himself.
to actively serve, Robertson was one of three ‘Immediate Past
Presidents’ elected. He was awarded an Honorary Life
Membership in 1997.
At AMU/AMS and other professional meetings, Robertson
was a familiar figure taking photographs, amassing a slide collection of nearly every malacologist he ever met. This ‘Rogues
Gallery,’ begun in 1960, included many so-called ‘growth series’
(photos of various malacologists over the course of many
years) and ultimately included more than 1,000 slides. He
presented selected photos in a talk entitled ‘A collection of
photos of world malacologists’ in a History of Malacology
symposium at the AMS Pittsburgh meeting in 2011. Selected
photos were displayed at the AMS meeting at Cherry Hill,
New Jersey, in 2012. The collection will ultimately be deposited in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
(ANSP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
Robertson joined the Philadelphia Shell Club in 1955,
just two years after its founding. He enjoyed interacting with
conchologists and often presented programs at their monthly
meetings at ANSP. In a Facebook posting shortly after his
death, the club members wrote “Many of us got to know him
over the years as an accomplished systematist, an honorary
Bahamian and a great supporter of the COA [Conchologists
of America] and AMS, but most importantly as the kindest
and most humorous of people.”
PUBLICATIONS OF ROBERT ROBERTSON
Robertson’s publications span a very wide range of
outlets. They include general scientific and biological outlets such as Science and Biological Bulletin, malacological
journals such as The Nautilus, Malacologia, and American
Malacological Bulletin, serials of his home institution such as
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
and Tryonia (where he coauthored ANSP type specimen
catalogs), to popular periodicals engaging the shell collecting world such as Hawaiian Shell News and American
Conchologist.
Over the life of his career, Robertson published on numerous taxonomic groups, mostly in the marine gastropods,
including families Buccinidae, Cerithiidae, Columbellidae,
Conidae, Muricidae, Rissoellidae, Strombidae, Trochidae,
Turbinidae. However, four families were explored over the
course of his entire career and form most of his published work.
His species-level monographic work focused on the family
Phasianellidae and included authoritative treatments of this
group in Johnsonia, Indo-Pacific Mollusca, and Monographs of
Marine Mollusca, and other serials (1958a, 1959a, 1973b, 1977,
1985a, 2010b). Pyramidellidae was the topic of both his first
formal malacological paper (1957a) and also his last (2012c).
Robertson explored the host relationships in this group of
parasitic snails, their larval ecology, their reproductive biology
(especially their spermatophores) and aspects of their heterostrophic larval shell morphology (also 1973a, 1978, 1979b,
1986c, 1996e, 2012a, b). Another part of his long-term
studies was directed at Epitoniidae, the cnidarian-associated
wentletraps that he mostly explored in the Bahamas. There
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his focus was on their feeding biology and coral association
(1963g, 1981b), their life histories and postlarval growth
(1981d, 1983c, 1983d, 1983e, 1984), and he explored variable
morphological shell characters such as shell rib counts and
protoconch size in the context of their use taxonomic characters (1983a, 1994b). Many other papers dealt with taxonomic
and other topics of this family (1958b, 1965a, 1994c, d, 1997a,
2001, 2005c). The same key topics are mirrored in Robertson’s
extensive work on Architectonicidae. These include publications on the hyperstrophic growth of the larval shell (1963e,
1964b), larval dispersal and species distributions (1964a, 1970a,
1973c, 1976b, c, e, 1979c), feeding biology (1967a), and
reproduction (1970c).
Robertson’s deep knowledge of these groups then provided the background for more general contributions. His
parallel observations on Epitoniidae, Architectonicidae, and
other groups led to publications on predation and parasitism
in corals and other cnidarians (1966a, 1970b). His discussion of Architectonicidae as a group “combining prosobranch and opisthobranch traits” (1974: 215) foreshadowed
much of the following exploration of ‘lower heterobranch’
gastropods in the 1980s, to which he fundamentally contributed with his works on “four characters and the higher
category systematics of gastropods” (1985b) and his review
of spermatophores and spernatozeugmata in aquatic nonstylommatophoran gastropods (1989b, 2007b). His insight
into gastropod reproductive modes was brought to bear
in a discussion of poecilogeny (1988, with Elaine Hoagland);
and his observations of heterostrophic shell growth in groups
such as Pyramidellidae and Architectonicidae led to his
keen interest in coiling patterns and shell handedness (1993,
2003b).
Although Robertson usually published alone and, in
his museum-based setting, engaged minimally in formal
student training (serving on only one Ph.D. committee, that
of M. G. ‘Jerry’ Harasewych at University of Delaware,
1982), his work had profound influence on others. This is
particularly true for his work on the Achitectonicidae.
Arthur Merrill (with whom he coauthored a paper on
abnormal coiling in 1963a) and one of us (RB, with whom
he published a note in 1989a, coincidentally again on abnormal coiling) both ultimately wrote doctoral dissertations
on this family. Both Merrill’s (1970) studies on the Atlantic
members of this family and RB’s on the Indo-Pacific fauna
(e.g., Bieler, 1993) were triggered and fundamentally guided
by Robertson’s pioneering work. Likewise, a strong mutual
influence existed with the larval dispersal work of Rudolf
Scheltema (e.g., Scheltema, 1968, 1983), and with whom
Robert coauthored a paper on feeding, larval dispersal,
and metamorphosis in the architectonicid genus Philippia
(1970a).
He will be missed.
· ·
36 1 2018
THE PUBLICATIONS OF ROBERT ROBERTSON
Note: In the following list, NT denotes new taxa described in
that publication.
1952. Catalogue des plantes vasculaires de la Polynésie
Française, 1ère Partie, Fougères et Lypocodiales [sic].
Bulletin de la Société des Études Océaniennes [Papeete,
Tahiti] 8(98/99): 371−406.
1953. Collecting marine shells in Tahiti. American
Malacological Union, Annual Report 1953: 20.
1954. Systematics of the Conidae. Including: suggested subgeneric allocations of Recent West American Conidae.
American Malacological Union, Annual Report 1954: 24.
1955. A proposed checklist of the West Indian marine mollusks. American Malacological Union, Annual Report
1955 [Bulletin 22]: 31−32.
1957a. Gastropod host of an Odostomia. The Nautilus 70(3):
96−97.
1957b. Publication dates of Troschel’s ‘Das Gebiss der
Schnecken.’ The Nautilus 70(4): 136−138.
1957c. A study of Cantharus multangulus (Philippi), with
notes on Cantharus and Pseudoneptunea (Gastropoda:
Buccinidae). Notulae Naturae (300): 1−10.
1957d. The subgenus Halopsephus Rehder, with notes on the
western Atlantic species of Turbo and the subfamily
Bothropomatinae Thiele. Journal of the Washington
Academy of Sciences 47(9): 316−319. [September 1957]
NT
1958a. The family Phasianellidae in the western Atlantic.
Johnsonia 3(37): 245−283, pls. 136−148. [8 May 1958]
NT
1958b. The family Stenacmidae. The Nautilus 72(2): 68−69.
[by RR and K. Oyama]
1959a. The family Phasianellidae in the western Atlantic
(supplement). Johnsonia 3(39): 344−346.
1959d. Observations on the spawn and veligers of conchs
(Strombus) in the Bahamas. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 33(4): 164−171, pl. 11.
1960. Family Phasianellidae. Page I274, in Moore, R. C., ed.,
Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part I, Mollusca I.
Boulder, Colorado, and Lawrence, Kansas, Geological
Society of America and University of Kansas Press. [by
A. M. Keen and RR]
1960. The mollusk fauna of Bahamian mangroves. American
Malacological Union, Annual Reports 1959 [Bulletin 26]:
22−23.
1961a. The feeding of Strombus and related herbivorous
marine gastropods: With a review and field observations.
Notulae Naturae (343): 1−9.
1961b. The natural history of some marine mollusks in the
Bahama Islands. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Shell
Club 1(5): 1−5.
ROBERT ROBERTSON BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
1961c. Review of pyramidellid hosts, with notes on an
Odostomia parasitic on a chiton. The Nautilus 74(3):
85−90, pls. 5−6. [by RR and V. Orr]
1961d. A second western Atlantic Rissoella and a list of the
species in the Rissoellidae. The Nautilus 74(4): 131−136,
pl. 9. [April 1961] NT
1961e. A second western Atlantic Rissoella and a list of the
species in the Rissoellidae (concluded from April no.).
The Nautilus 75(1): 21−26.
1961f. Short notes on collecting: Collecting minute mollusks
from marine algae. In: R. T. Abbott, ed., How to Collect
Shells: A Symposium, 2nd Edition. American Malacological
Union, Marinette, Wisconsin. Pp. 10−11.
1962a. Comments on the proposed use of the Plenary Powers
to suppress the generic name Pupa Röding, 1798.
ZN(S)581. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 19(5):
258−259.
1962b. The status of Strombus canaliculatus. The Nautilus
75(4): 128−130, pls. [11], 12−13.
1962b. Supplementary notes on the Rissoellidae (Gastropoda).
Notulae Naturae (352): 2 pp.
1962c. Taxonomic addendum. In C. M. Yonge, On the biology of the mesogastropod Trichotropis cancellata Hinds,
a benthic indicator species. Biological Bulletin 122(1):
179.
1962d. Vanikoro Quoy and Gaimard, 1832 (Mollusca,
Gastropoda); proposed validation under the Plenary
Powers. Z. N.(S.) 1524. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature
19(5): 332−336.
1963a. Abnormal dextral hyperstrophy of post-larval Heliacus
(Gastropoda: Architeconicidae [sic]). The Veliger 6(2):
76−79, pls. 13−14. [by RR and A. S. Merrill]
1963b. Bathymetric and geographic distribution of Panopea
bitruncata. The Nautilus 76(3): 75−82.
1963c. Brachystyloma Weisbord a synonym of Anachis H.
and A. Adams (Columbellidae). The Nautilus 77(1):
32.
1963d. Further comments on the name of the type-species
of Xenophora Fischer von Waldheim, 1807. Bulletin of
Zoological Nomenclature 20(1): 11−14.
1963e. The hyperstrophic larval shells of the Architectonicidae. American Malacological Union, Annual Reports 1963
[Bulletin 30]: 11−12.
1963f. The mollusks of British Honduras. Proceedings of the
Philadelphia Shell Club 1(7): 15−20.
1963g. Wentletraps (Epitoniidae) feeding on sea anemones
and corals. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of
London 35(2/3): 51−63, pls. 5−7.
1964a. Dispersal and wastage of larval Philippia krebsii
(Gastropoda: Architectonicidae) in the North Atlantic.
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia 116(1): 1−27.
165
1964b. The hyperstrophic larval shells of the Architectonicidae. American Malacological Union, Annual Reports
1963: 11−12.
1964c. Purple sea snail. BioScience 14(1): 63.
1965a. Alexania replaces Habea (Epitoniidae). The Nautilus
78(4): 140−141. [by RR and T. Habe]
1965b. A spiny Murex. [Academy] Frontiers 29(4): 100−103.
1966a. Clam-toting turtle. ASB [Association of Southeastern
Biologists] Bulletin 13(3): 66. [by R. R. Grant and RR]
1966b (‘1965’). Coelenterate-associated prosobranch gastropods. American Malacological Union, Annual Reports
1965 [Bulletin 32]: 6−8.
1967a. Heliacus (Gastropoda: Architectonicidae) symbiotic
with Zoanthiniaria (Coelenterata). Science 156(3772):
246−248.
1967b (‘1966’). The life history of Odostomia bisuturalis, and
Odostomia spermatophores (Gastropoda: Pyramidellidae).
Year Book of the American Philosophical Society 1966:
368−370.
1968a (‘1966’). The Conidae (Gastropoda) of the Maldive and
Chagos archipelagoes. Journal of the Marine Biological
Association of India 8(2): 273−277. [by A. J. Kohn and RR]
1968b. A holoplanktonic, tropical marine gastropod (heteropod) of the genus Atlanta. BioScience 18(10): [caption to
cover photo].
1968c (‘1967’). Hosts, spermatophores, and the systematics
of five east American species of Odostomia, s.l.
(Pyramidellidae). American Malacological Union, Annual
Reports 1967: 12−13.
1969. On some molluscs collected from southwest Ceylon
during the International Indian Ocean Expedition, 1964.
Spolia Zeylanica 31(2): 1−8.
1970a. The feeding, larval dispersal, and metamorphosis of
Philippia (Gastropoda: Architectonicidae). Pacific Science
24(1): 55−65. [by RR, R. S. Scheltema, and F. W. Adams]
1970b. Review of the predators and parasites of stony corals,
with special reference to symbiotic prosobranch gastropods. Pacific Science 24(1): 43−54.
1970c. Systematics of Indo-Pacific Philippia (Psilaxis), architectonicid gastropods with eggs and young in the umbilicus. Pacific Science 24(1): 66−83.
1971a (‘1970’). Biological systematics of marine bivalves and
gastropods. American Malacological Union, Annual Reports
1970 [Bulletin 37]: 62−63.
1971b. [Reprinted application and comments in] R. V.
Melville, The question of the generic name Vanikoro
Quoy and Gaimard, 1832 (class Gastropoda). Z. N. (S.)
1524. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 27(5/6):
238−245.
1971c. Scanning electron microscopy of planktonic larval
marine gastropod shells. The Veliger 14(1): 1−12, pls.
1−9.
166
AMERICAN MALACOLOGICAL BULLETIN
1971d (‘1970’). Sexually dimorphic archaeogastropods and
radulae. American Malacological Union, Annual Reports
1970 [Bulletin 37]: 75−78.
1972. Book review: Wonders of the World of Shells: Sea, Land and
Freshwater, by Morris K. Jacobson and William K. Emerson,
1971. [Academy] Frontiers 36(5): 29. [by B. Jones and RR]
1973a. Cyclostremella: A planispiral pyramidellid. The Nautilus
87(3): 88.
1973b. The genus Gabrielona (Phasianellidae) in the IndoPacific and West Indies. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 3(14):
41−61, pls. 36−59. [30 May 1973] NT
1973c. On the fossil history and intrageneric relationships of
Philippia (Gastropoda: Architectonicidae). Proceedings of
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 125(2):
37−46.
1974a (‘1973’). The biology of the Architectonicidae, gastropods combining prosobranch and opisthobranch
traits. Malacologia (Proceedings of the Fourth European
Malacological Congress) 14: 215−220.
1974b. Collecting minute mollusks from marine algae. In:
M. K. Jacobson, ed., How to Study & Collect Shells (a
Symposium), 4th Edition. American Malacological Union,
[place of publication not specified]. Pp. 10−11.
1975a. Systematic list of commonly occurring marine mollusks of Belize. In: K. F. Wantland and W. C. Pusey III,
eds., Belize Shelf-Carbonate Sediments, Clastic Sediments,
and Ecology. American Association of Petroleum Geologists,
Studies in Geology, 2. Pp. 40−52.
1975b (‘1973’). Taxonomic problems with Indo-Pacific
Tricolia (Phasianellidae). American Malacological Union,
Bulletin for 1973: 26.
1976a. Book review: Land Snail Biology: Pulmonates, Vol. 1,
Functional Anatomy and Physiology, Vera Fretter and
J. Peake, eds., Academic Press, New York, 1975. Science
192(4239): 547.
1976b. Faunal affinities of the Architectonicidae in the eastern Pacific. Bulletin of the American Malacological Union
for 1975: 51.
1976c. Heliacus trochoides: An Indo-West-Pacific architectonicid newly found in the eastern Pacific (mainland
Ecuador). The Veliger 19(1): 13−18.
1976d. Malacology. [Academy] Frontiers 41(1): 39. [news on
pyramidellid grant]
1976e (‘1974’). Marine prosobranch gastropods: Larval studies and systematics. Thalassia Jugoslavia (Proceedings
of Conference on Marine Invertebrate Larvae, Rovinj,
Yugoslavia) 10(1/2): 213−238.
1976f. The origin of pulmonate land snails. Science 193(4249):
251. [correction to 1976a]
1977 (‘1974’). Etude taxonomique du sous-genre Hiloa dans
l’Indo-Pacifique (Gastropoda: Phasianellidae, genre
Tricolia). Haliotis 4(1/2): 141−142.
· ·
36 1 2018
1978. Spermatophores of six eastern North American pyramidellid gastropods and their systematic significance
(with the new genus Boonea). Biological Bulletin 155(2):
360−382. [October 1978] NT
1979a. Catalog of the chiton types of the ANSP. Tryonia 1:
1-60, [by G. M. Davis, RR, and M. Miller]
1979b. The ectoparasitism of Boonea and Fargoa (Gastropoda:
Pyramidellidae). Biological Bulletin 157(2): 320−333. [by
RR and T. Mau-Lastovicka]
1979c. Philippia (Psilaxis) radiata: Another Indo-west-Pacific
architectonicid newly found in the eastern Pacific
(Colombia). The Veliger 22(2): 191−193.
1980a. Gastropods symbiotic with zoanthinarian sea anemones.
Bulletin of the American Malacological Union for 1980: 69.
1980b. The genus Tricolia (Archaeogastropoda: Phasianellidae) in Australia. Journal of the Malacological Society
of Australia 4(4): 258−259.
1981a. Catalog of the types of neontological Mollusca of
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Pt. 2.
Gastropoda, Archaeogastropoda: Pleurotomariacea,
Fissurellacea, Patellacea. Tryonia 5: 48 pp. [by RR, L.
Richardson, G. M. Davis, and A. E. Bogan]
1981b (‘1980’). Epitonium millecostatum and Coralliophila
clathrata: Two prosobranch gastropods symbiotic with
Indo-Pacific Palythoa (Coelenterata: Zoanthidae). Pacific
Science 34(1): 1−17.
1981c. List of shell-bearing mollusks observed and collected
at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Tryonia 4:
1−32.
1981d. Protandry with only one sex change in an Epitonium
(Ptenoglossa). The Nautilus 95(4): 184−186.
1983a. Axial shell rib counts as systematic characters in
Epitonium. The Nautilus 97(3): 116−118.
1983b. Catalog of the types of neontological Mollusca of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Pt. 3.
Gastropoda, Archaeogastropoda: Trochacea: Trochidae,
Stomatellidae. Tryonia 7: 1−90. [by RR, L. Richardson,
G. M. Davis, and A. E. Bogan]
1983c. Extraordinarily rapid postlarval growth of a tropical wentletrap (Epitonium albidum). The Nautilus 97(2): 60−66.
1983d. Observations on the life history of the wentletrap
Epitonium albidum in the West Indies. American
Malacological Bulletin 1: 1−11.
1983e. Observations on the life history of the wentletrap
Epitonium echinaticostum [sic] in the Bahamas. The
Nautilus 97(3): 98−103.
1984. Golden wentletraps on golden corals. Hawaiian Shell
News 32(11): 1, 4. [by RR and P. L. Schutt]
1985a. Archaeogastropod biology and the systematics of
the genus Tricolia (Trochacea: Tricoliidae) in the IndoWest-Pacific. Monographs of Marine Mollusca (3): 1−103,
96 pls. [12 July 1985] NT
ROBERT ROBERTSON BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
1985b. Four characters and the higher category systematics of
gastropods. American Malacological Bulletin special edition 1 (Perspectives in Malacology Honoring Professor
Melbourne R. Carriker): 1−22.
1986a. A. Myra Keen (1905−1986): A brief biography and
malacological evaluation. Malacologia 27(2): 375−382.
1986b. Catalog of the types of neontological Mollusca of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Pt. 4.
Gastropoda, Archaeogastropoda: Trochacea (concluded), Neritacea (sensu lato). Tryonia 14: ii + 153 pp.
[by RR, L. Richardson, G. M. Davis, and A. E. Bogan]
1986c. Pyramidellid larval ecology and systematics. Unitas
Malacologica, Ninth International Malacological Congress,
Edinburgh, Scotland … 1986: 72.
1987a. Anatomy and systematic position of Fastigiella carinata
Reeve (Cerithiidae: Prosobranchia). The Nautilus 101(3):
101−110. [by R. S. Houbrick, RR, and R. T. Abbott]
1987b. Catalog of the types of neontological Mollusca of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Pt. 5.
Gastropoda, Archaeogastropoda: Cyclophoracea. Tryonia
15: ii + 140 pp. [by RR, L. Richardson, G. M. Davis,
and A. E. Bogan]
1987c. Virginia Orr Maes (1920−1986): Biography and malacological bibliography. Proceedings of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 138: 527−532.
1988. An assessment of poecilogony in marine invertebrates:
Phenomenon or fantasy? Biological Bulletin 174: 109−125.
[by K. E. Hoagland and RR]
1989a. [Another ‘sinistral’ architectonicid.] The Chiribotan
[Newsletter of the Malacological Society of Japan] 20(3):
58−60. [in Japanese, by RR and R. Bieler]
1989b. Spermatophores of aquatic non-stylommatophoran
gastropods: A review with new data on Heliacus
(Architectonicidae). Malacologia 30(1/2): 341−364.
1990. Malacology or conchology? The Nautilus 104(4):
145−146.
1991a. Book review: Coomans, H. E., Antillean Seashells: The
19th Century Watercolours of Caribbean Molluscs Painted by
Hendrik van Rijgersma. The Veliger 34(3): 315.
1991b. Malacologia o conchigliologia? Notiziario dalla Società
Italiana di Malacologia 9(7): 117−119. [Italian translation
of 1990]
1991c. Malacology or conchology? Of Sea & Shore 14(2):
91−92. [reprint of 1990]
1993. Snail handedness: The coiling directions of gastropods.
National Geographic Research & Exploration 9(1): 104−119.
1994a. The natural history of some marine snails in the
Bahama Islands. Bahamas Journal of Science 1(2): 17−21.
[reprint of 1961b, with corrections and additions]
1994b. Protoconch size variation along depth gradients in
a planktotrophic Epitonium. The Nautilus 107(4):
107−112.
167
1994c (‘1993’). Two new tropical western Atlantic species of
Epitonium, with notes on similar global species and natural history. The Nautilus 107(3): 81−93. [2 February
1994] NT
1994d. Wentletrap egg capsules and veligers: What they are
and how to see and study them. American Conchologist
22(4): 5−6.
1995a. Anachis veligers. American Conchologist 23(4): 19.
1995b. Bibliography of Bahamian land and freshwater mollusks. Bahamas Journal of Science 3(1): 34−35.
1995c. Epitonium spermatozeugmata. Epinet [Epitonium
newsletter] 4(2): 3.
1996a. Bibliography of Bahamian land and freshwater mollusks: Addendum. Bahamas Journal of Science 3(2): 32.
1996b. Counting ribs. Epinet [Epitonium newsletter] 5(1): 1.
1996c. Dr. R. Tucker Abbott (1919−1995). Explore (ANSP)
2(2): 4.
1996d. Epitonium feeding. Epinet [Epitonium newsletter]
4(4): 1.
1996e. Fargoa bartschi (Winkley, 1909): A little-known Atlantic
and Gulf coast American odostomian (Pyramidellidae)
and its generic relationships. American Malacological
Bulletin 13(1/2): 11−21.
1996f. Natural history of Physa, a sinistral fresh-water snail.
American Conchologist 24(1): 8−9.
1997a. Alexania (Epitoniidae) in Texas, and parallels with
Recluzia (Janthinidae). Texas Conchologist 34(1): 10−18.
1997b. Relationships: Epitonium & Janthina. Epinet [Epitonium
newsletter] 5(2): 1.
2001. New Jersey Epitonium. American Conchologist 29(2):
20−21. [by J.-L. Goldberg and RR]
2003a. The edible West Indian ‘whelk’ Cittarium pica
(Gastropoda: Trochidae): Natural history with new
observations. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia 153(1): 27−47.
2003b. Snail coiling. American Conchologist 31(2): 4−9.
2004. Re-searching a non-whelk: Cittarium pica. American
Conchologist 32(3): 26−27.
2005a. Close and closer looks at a Pedicularia (cowrie-relative) larval shell. American Conchologist 33(2): 3−5 [correction in American Conchologist 33(3): 2].
2005b. Large conchs (Strombus) are endangered herbivores
having many predators and needing dense populations
of adults to reproduce successfully. American Conchologist
33(3): 3−7.
2005c. New Jersey Epitonium continued… American
Conchologist 33(1): 19. [by J.-L. Goldberg and RR]
2005d. New strombid names and knowledge of inter-relationships. American Conchologist 33(4): 3.
2006a. Bivalved gastropods: Berthelinia and Julia (order
Sacoglossa, family Juliidae). American Conchologist 34(1):
4−6.
168
AMERICAN MALACOLOGICAL BULLETIN
2006b. Bloodsucking pyramidellids. American Conchologist
34(4): 4−7.
2007a. Janthina: Floating Epitonium (wentletrap) relatives.
American Conchologist 35(3): 4−9.
2007b. Taxonomic occurrences of gastropod spermatozeugmata and non-stylommatophoran spermatophores updated. American Malacological Bulletin 23(1):
11−16.
2008. Monoplacophora: Ancient fossils in the modern deep
sea. American Paleontologist 16(4): 25−29.
2009. The Department of Malacology at the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. American Conchologist
37(1): 4−10. [by P. Callomon and RR]
2010a. The second Gulf of Mexico oil spill. American
Paleontologist 18(3): 26−26. [by RR and H. Robertson]
2010b. A true Phasianella from the Middle Miocene (Badenian)
central Paratethys of Romania (Gastropoda: Vetigastropoda: Phasianellidae). Archiv für Molluskenkunde
139(2): 247−253.
2011a. Catesby’s gallery: A trailblazing naturalist in the New
World. Natural History February 2011: 32−37.
2011b. Cracking a queen conch (Strombus gigas), vanishing
uses, and rare abnormalities. American Conchologist
39(3): 21−24.
2011c. New species discovered in the Pinelands. Inside the
Pinelands 18(4): 4. [Vertigo malleata Coles and Nekola,
2007]
2012a. Pyramidellid protoconchs, eggs, embryos and larval
ecology: An introductory survey. American Malacological
Bulletin 30(2): 219–228.
2012b. B-type protoconchs and all three modes of larval development in eastern North American Boonea (Pyramidellid
ae). American Malacological Bulletin 30(2): 229–246.
2012c. C-Type protoconchs and planktotrophy in small eastern North American Fargoa (Pyramidellidae). American
Malacological Bulletin 30(2): 248–253.
2015. Mark Catesby’s Bahamian natural history (observed in
1725−1726). In: E. C. Nelson and D. J. Elliott, eds., The
Curious Mister Catesby: A ‘Truly Ingenious’ Naturalist
Explores New Worlds. University of Georgia Press,
Athens. Pp. 127−140.
NOTABLE UNPUBLISHED REPORTS BY ROBERT
ROBERTSON
1959b. The Foods of Marine Prosobranch Gastropods. Unpublished report, 6 pp. [copy on file in Department of
Malacology, ANSP]
1959b (December). Marine Mollusks of Bimini, Bahama Islands.
Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
· ·
36 1 2018
1966b. International Indian Ocean Expedition; U.S. Program in
Biology; Maldive Islands: Summary Report on Mollusks
Collected by Robert Robertson … 1964. Unpublished report,
25 + [2] pp.
1966c. International Indian Ocean Expedition; U.S. Program in
Biology; Southern India: Summary Report on Mollusks
Collected by Robert Robertson … 1964. Unpublished report,
29 + [1] pp.
2010c. Robert Robertson’s Mainly Malacological Life History
Before ANSP (1934−1959) (Written by Him in July 2009,
with Corrections in June 2010). Unpublished report, 12 pp.
PUBLICATIONS ABOUT ROBERT ROBERTSON
Abbott, R. T., ed., 1973. American Malacologists. Falls Church,
Virginia, American Malacologists. [p. 419]
Abbott, R. T., ed., 1987. Register of American Malacologists.
Melbourne, Florida, American Malacologists. [p. 114]
Callomon, P. and R. Robertson, 2009. The Department of
Malacology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia. American Conchologist 37(1): 4-10. [p. 6,
portrait]
Coan, E. V. 1983. Oral history project interview with
Myra Keen, Professor Emeritus, Paleontology, Stanford
University, September 1983. Tape and copy of 18-pp.
transcript placed in Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Produced by S. I. Archives with 20 pp. and photographs
in plastic sleeves [portraits] [p. 17−18].
Coan, E. V. and A. R. Kabat. 2017. 2,400 Years of Malacology,
14th Edition. American Malacological Society. Available
at: http://www.malacological.org/2004_malacology.html
28 February 2018. [p. 1057]
D’Angiolini, R. 2015. Robert Robertson: One of Philadelphia’s
finest. Xenophora [Newsletter of the Philadelphia Shell
Club] 34(10): 1, 9−10 [reprinted in Xenophora 33(5): 5 pp.]
Hartsock, M. A. 2013. Robert and Harriet Robertson.
Academy Frontiers Fall 2013: 14.
Johnson, R. I. 2006b. William J. Clench and Ruth D. Turner,
with a personal perspective on the Department of
Mollusks, Museum of Comparative Zoology. Sporadic
Papers on Mollusks 3: 111−166. [p. 142]
Peck, R. McC. and P. T. Stroud, 2012. A Glorious Enterprise:
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the
Making of American Science. University of Pennsylvania
Press, Philadelphia. [p. 400]
Poppe, G. T. and P. Poppe. 2018. Shellers from the Past and
the Present: Robertson, Robert (PhD). Available at: https://
www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=34270 10 February 2018.
Shasky, D. R., 1980. Oral history interviews with S. Stillman
Berry, malacologist. Interviews 1−2, 4, 7 May 1980.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, DC. [pp.
43−46]
ROBERT ROBERTSON BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
Turner, R. D. 1985. Obituary: William J. Clench, October 24,
1897−February 22, 1984. Malacological Review 18(1/2):
123−124. Available at: http://www.sciencenetwork.com/
turner/rdt-clench-bio.html 10 February 2018; includes
a photograph of Clench with his graduate students,
including RR, at the 1963 AMU meeting in Washington,
DC.
169
Tricolia thalassicola Robertson, 1958a, Phasianellidae. Holotype
from Johnnie’s Cay, Drunken Cays, Great Abaco Island,
Bahamas (MCZ 213260). Currently accepted as Eulithidium
thalassicola (Robertson, 1958).
Turbo (Halopsephus) haraldi Robertson, 1957d, Turbinidae.
Replacement name for Halosephus pulcher Rehder, 1943,
non Turbo pulcher Reeve, 1842. Currently accepted as
Turbo haraldi Robertson, 1957.
TAXA NAMED BY ROBERT ROBERTSON
TAXA NAMED FOR ROBERT ROBERTSON
Abbreviations: ANSP, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel
University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; MCZ, Museum of
Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts; USNM, National Museum of Natural
History (United States National Museum), Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, DC.
Boonea Robertson, 1978, Pyramidellidae. Type species: Jaminia
seminuda C. B. Adams, 1839. Currently accepted as valid.
Epitonium phymanthi Robertson, 1994c, Epitoniidae. Holotype
from southeastern Florida, Bear Cut, Miami, Florida
(ANSP 391939. Currently accepted as valid.
Epitonium worsfoldi Robertson, 1994c, Epitoniidae. Holotype
from Smith’s Point, Grand Bahama, Bahamas (ANSP
391939/A17192). Currently accepted as valid.
Gabrielona pisinna Robertson, 1973b, Phasianellidae. Holotype
from Récif Ricaudy, near Noumea, New Caledonia (ANSP
301611). Currently accepted as valid.
Gabrielona raunana goubini Robertson, 1973b, Phasianellidae.
Holotype from Lifou, Loyalty Islands (Dautzenberg
Collection at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles
de Belgique, Brussels). Currently accepted as valid.
Gabrielona sulcifera Robertson, 1973b, Phasianellidae. Holotype
from English Harbour, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda
(USNM 500636). Currently accepted as valid.
Rissoella galba Robertson, 1961e, Rissoellidae. Holotype from
northwestern end of South Bimini, Bahamas (MCZ
221105). Currently accepted as valid.
Tricolia affinis beaui Robertson, 1958a, Phasianellidae. Holotype
from Bathsheba, Barbados (MCZ 215664). Currently
accepted as Eulithidium beaui (Robertson, 1958).
Tricolia affinis cruenta Robertson, 1958a, Phasianellidae.
Holotype from Bahia do Flamengo, Ubatuba, São Paulo,
Brazil, MCZ 215666. Currently accepted as Eulithidium
affine (C. B. Adams, 1850).
Tricolia affinis pterocladica Robertson, 1958a, Phasianellidae.
Holotype from Boynton Beach, Florida (MCZ 215662).
Currently accepted as Eulithidium pterocladicum
(Robertson, 1958).
Tricolia ios Robertson, 1985a, Phasianellidae. Holotype from
northeast of Mogadishu, Federal Republic of Somalia
(ANSP 295535). Currently accepted as valid.
Aperiovula robertsoni C. N. Cate, 1973, Ovulidae. Currently
accepted as Quasisimnia robertsoni (Cate, 1973).
Elachisina robertsoni Kay, 1979, Elachisinidae. Currently
accepted as valid.
Favartia robertsoni D’Attilio and Myers, 1986, Muricidae.
Currently a synonym of Favartia brevicula (G. B. Sowerby
II, 1834).
Macromphalina robertsoni Rolán and Rubio, 1998, Tornidae.
Currently accepted as valid.
Microceramus (Spiroceramus) robertsoni Clench, 1963,
Urocoptidae. Currently accepted as Insulaceramus robertsoni (Clench, 1963).
Miralda robertsoni Regteren Altena, 1975, Pyramidellidae.
Currently accepted as Iolaea robertsoni (van Regteren
Altena, 1975).
Rissoella confusa robertsoni Ponder and Yoo, 1977, Rissoellidae.
Currently accepted as valid.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the following: Harriet ‘Happy’ Robertson (for access to Robert’s files and photographs, and
her memories), Paul Callomon (for access to ANSP photographs and records, and the AMS archives at ANSP), and
Tim Pearce and Gary Rosenberg (for opinions on landsnail
taxonomy).
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Submitted: 2 March 2018; accepted: 5 March 2018; final
revisions received: 28 March 2018