Staff Profile Dr Ben Rowson
Senior Curator: Invertebrate Biodiversity (Terrestrial Mollusca)
Contact Details
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NP
Phone: +44 (0)29 2057 3110
Staff Name
Job Title
Areas of Responsibility:
Qualifications, memberships and relevant positions
BSc (Hons) Environmental Biology (St. Andrews); MSc Ecology (Bangor); PhD Systematics (Cardiff). Memberships: Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland; UNITAS Malacologica; Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA); Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales.
Positions: Corresponding Member, Wales Biodiversity Partnership Invasive Non-native Species Group. Committee Member, Cardiff Scientific Society. Assessor, European Red List of Threatened Species, IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). Associate Tutor, The Field Studies Council. Editorial Assistant, Journal of Conchology (the world's oldest continuing publication on molluscs, published by the Conchological Society since 1874).
Research Interests
Malacology (the study of molluscs) based on museum shell, anatomical, and DNA/tissue collections, from urban and rural Wales to tropical rainforests. Current research focuses on: 1) past and present changes in the British slug fauna; 2) alpha taxonomy and biogeography in eastern Africa; and 3) the evolution of carnivorous “hunter snails” (Streptaxidae) worldwide. Findings are or have been applied to producing field guides, detecting invasive species and plant pests, reconstructing prehistoric environments, and parasitology. Results are communicated through talks, events, teaching, media, citizen science, and exhibitions as well as publication. Recent contract work on site/species surveys, archaeology, and conservation assessment.
Keywords
Taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny, Mollusca, Gastropoda, slugs, snails, collections, environmental history, biodiversity, biogeography, DNA barcoding, recording, invasive species, tropical forests, Africa.Links
Selected Publications
Rowson B., Ablett J., Gallichan J., Holmes A. M., Oliver P. G., Salvador A., Turner J. A., Wood H., Brown C., Gordon D., Hunter T., Machin R., Morgenroth H., Reilly, M. Petts R. & Sutcliffe R. 2018. Mollusca Types in Great Britain. Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales / Natural History Museum. Available online at https://gbmolluscatypes.ac.uk
Aziz, N. A. A., Daly, E., Allen, S., Rowson, B., Greig, C., Forman, D., & Morgan, E. R. 2016. Distribution of Angiostrongylus vasorum and its gastropod intermediate hosts along the rural-urban gradient in two cities in the United Kingdom, using real time PCR. Parasites & Vectors, 9, 56. doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1338-3
Owen, C., Rowson, B., & Wilkinson, K. 2016. First record of the predatory semi-slug Daudebardia rufa (Draparnaud, 1805) from the UK (Eupulmonata: Daudebardiidae). Journal of Conchology, 42 (3), 119-121.
Rowson, B. 2015. Mollusca. In George Smith and Elizabeth A. Walker. Snail Cave rock shelter, North Wales: a new prehistoric site. Archaeologia Cambrensis, 163, 99-131.
Rowson, B., & Wood, A.H. 2015. Shells from Alfred Russel Wallace in the National Museum of Wales. Mollusc World,37, 19-23.
Rowson, B. 2014.
Rowson, B., Turner, J.A., Anderson, R., & Symondson, W.O.C. 2014. Slugs of Britain and Ireland: identification, understanding and control. Field Studies Council, Shropshire, UK, 140 pp.
Rowson, B., Anderson, R., Turner, J.A., & Symondson, W. O. C. 2014. The Slugs of Britain and Ireland: undetected and undescribed species increase a well-studied, economically important fauna by more than 20%. PLOS One,9 (3) e91907. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091907
Rowson, B. & Tattersfield, P. 2013. Revision of Dadagulella gen. nov., the “Gulella radius” group (Gastropoda: Streptaxidae) of the eastern Afrotropics, including six new species and three new subspecies. [PDF] European Journal of Taxonomy, 37, 1-46.
Rowson, B. & Van Goethem, J.L. 2012. A second remarkable slug and a thin-shelled Trochonanina snail from the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania (Stylommatophora: Helicarionoidea: Urocyclidae). Journal of Conchology, 41, 239-247.
Salvador, R.B., Rowson, B., & Simone, L.R.L. 2011. Re-writing the fossil history of Cerionidae (Gastropoda, Pulmonata); new family assignment of the Brazilian Paleocene genus Brasilennea Maury, 1935. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 77, 445-447.
Herbert, D.G., & Rowson, B. 2011. Pupa menkeana Pfeiffer, 1853, type species of the speciose land snail genus Gulella Pfeiffer, 1856: correction of longstanding misidentification and designation of neotype (Mollusca: Eupulmonata: Streptaxidae). African Invertebrates, 52 (2) 233-242.
Tattersfield, P., Rowson, B. & Gallichan, J. 2011. Bernard Verdcourt (1925-2011) – An Appreciation, Malacological Names and Bibliography. Journal of Conchology, 40 (6) 681-704.
Rowson, B., Warren, B.H., & Ngereza, C.F. 2010. Terrestrial molluscs of Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania, and its status as an “oceanic” island. ZooKeys, 70, 1-39.
Rowson, B., Tattersfield, P., & Symondson, W.O.C. 2010. Phylogeny and biogeography of tropical carnivorous land-snails (Pulmonata: Streptaxoidea) with particular reference to East Africa and the Indian Ocean. Zoologica Scripta, 50, 85-96.
Verdcourt, B., Wood, H, & Rowson, B. 2003. Thomas Pain (1915-2003). Journal of Conchology, 38, 179-191.