Cephalopods, Land and Freshwater Molluscs (slugs, snails and bivalves)
I am responsible for the curation of the terrestrial and freshwater Mollusca plus the Cephalopod collections within the Mollusca group in the Department of Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum (NHM). The Mollusca collections contain an estimated 7 million specimens (including 60,000 primary types) and the taxa within my care account for around 40% of this collection (2.8 million specimens). My responsibilities include the general care, curation, preservation, reorganisation and loaning of the dry and spirit collections under my care, and the identification, data-basing, preservation, and accession of new material. I am in charge of answering enquiries and supervising visitors (scientific, commercial and the general), and am heavily involved with associated exhibition and public engagement projects within my taxa expertise. My current research interests include: Vietnamese land snail diversity Land snails of the Western Ghats, India The neo-tropical superfamily Orthalocoidea Producing type catalogues of material housed in the NHM New Molluscan Names introduced by Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen Using micro-CT scanning to reconstruct soft tissue anatomy in gastropods. In 2004 a giant squid (Architeuthis dux, Steenstrup in Harting 1860) was caught by the Falkland Islands registered trawler 'John Cheek' off the coast of the Falkland Islands. The Captain of the ship gave it to the research station on the Falkland Islands who donated it to the Natural History Museum on the provision that it was put on public display. The squid was 8.62m in length and was the largest 'wet' specimen ever preserved at the NHM. As curator in charge of Cephalopoda it was my responsibility to design, manage and implement the preservation, storage and display of this enormous creature.
BSc. (Hons.), Cardiff University, Wales, 1998 - 2002
Senior Curator non-marine Mollusca and Cephalopoda, Natural History Museum, Life Sciences, United Kingdom, 2015 - ongoing
Curator non-marine Mollusca and Cephalopoda, Natural History Museum, London, Life Sciences, United Kingdom, 2003 - 2015
Research assistant (Lower Vertebrates), Natural History Museum, London, Life Sciences, United Kingdom, 2003 - 2003
Assistant Curator, Grant Museum of Zoology, University College London, United Kingdom, 2002 - 2003
Breure ASH, Ablett JD (2015) Annotated type catalogue of the Megaspiridae, Orthalicidae, and Simpulopsidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 470 : 17 - 143. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.470.8548
Raheem DC, Ablett J, Taylor H, Preece RC, Aravind NA, et al (2014) A Systematic Revision of the Land Snails of the Western Ghats of India. Chulalongkorn University : 1 - 294.
Breure A, Ablett J (2014) Annotated type catalogue of the Bulimulidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 392 : 1 - 367. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.392.6328
Ablett J (2012) The Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux Steenstrup, 1857 (Mollusca: Cephalopoda): The Making of an Iconic Specimen. NatSCA News, 23 : 16 - 20.
Breure A, Ablett J (2012) Annotated type catalogue of the Bothriembryontidae and Odontostomidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 182 : 1 - 70. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.182.2720
Breure ASH, Ablett JD (2011) Annotated type catalogue of the Amphibulimidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London.. ZooKeys, 1 - 52. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.138.1847
Great British Mollusca Types
Role: Principal investigator
Funding: John Ellerman Foundation
Total value £92,950 (to Museum £24,515.20)
Dates: 2016 - 2018
United Kindgom
2013 - 2013.
Vietnam
2013 - on going.
Vietnam
2012 - on going.
Vietnam
2011 - on going.
Thailand & Vietnam
2007 - on going.
The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland – Council Member (2015 – 2017), 2015 - on going.
Other, The Malacological Society of London – Awards Officer (2015 – Present), 2015 - on going.
Council member, 2011 - on going.
Member, The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, 2011 - on going.
Member, Natural Sciences Collections Association, 2003 - on going.
Organiser, Session chair, European Malacological Congress 2014, (Conference),
Organiser, Poster presentation, Session chair, Molluscan Forum 2014, (Conference),
Attendee/participant, Poster presentation, 7th Congress of the European Malacological Societies, (Conference),
Organiser, Session chair, Molluscan Forum 2013, (Conference),
Organiser, Session chair, Molluscan Forum 2012, (Conference),
Organiser, Molluscan Forum 2011, (Conference),
Council Member, The Malacological Society of London, 2011 - on going.
Książkiewicz-parulsk Z, Ablett J (2017) Molluscan communities as indicators of wetland ecosystem health. A case study from western Poland. The Belgian Journal of Zoology,
Rowson B, Wood H, Ablett J, Gallichan J, Turner J, Holmes A, Oliver G, Salvador A (2017) Great British Mollusca Types Project: a union data database for the U.K.. Presented at NatSCA Conference & AGM 2017, Cambridge.
Breure ASH, Ablett J (2016) The ‘Demange drawings’: known and unknown malacological contribu- tions of Victor Demange (1870-1940). Folia Conchyliologica, 36 : 1 - 9.
Książkiewicz-parulska Z, Ablett JD (2016) Investigating the influence of habitat type and weather conditions on the population dynamics of land snails Vertigo angustior Jeffreys, 1830 and Vertigo moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849). A case study from western Poland. Journal of Natural History, 50 (27-28) : 1749 - 1758. doi: 10.1080/00222933.2016.1156178
Oheimb PV, Oheimb KCM, Ablett J, Naggs FCN (2016) Convergent evolution of shell shape in Cyclophorus spp. (Caenogastropoda: Cyclophoridae) from Vietnam. Presented at Molluscan Forum.
Oheimb PV, Oheimb KCM, Ablett J, Naggs (2016) Vietnam's biodiverse limestone karst outcrops: Do they harbour cryptic Cyclophorus species. Presented at World Congress of Malacology.
Oheimb PV, Oheimb KCM, Ablett J, Naggs (2016) Diversity and distribution of door snails around the Red River in Vietnam. Presented at World Congress of Malacology.
Oheimb PV, Oheimb KCM, Ablett J, Naggs F (2016) Community assembly among limestone karst areas – Insights from Vietnamese land snails. Presented at Molluscan Forum.
Sutcharit C, Ablett J, Tongkerd P, Naggs F, Panha S (2015) Illustrated type catalogue of Amphidromus Albers, 1850 in the Natural History Museum, London, and descriptions of two new species. ZooKeys, 492 : 49 - 105. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.492.8641
Páll-gergely B, Hunyadi A, Ablett J, Văn LươngH, Naggs F, Asami T (2015) Systematics of the family Plectopylidae in Vietnam with additional information on Chinese taxa (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Stylommatophora). ZooKeys, 473 : 1 - 118. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.473.8659
Breure ASH, Ablett JD (2015) Annotated type catalogue of the Megaspiridae, Orthalicidae, and Simpulopsidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 470 : 17 - 143. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.470.8548
Walker A, Ablett J, Sykes D, Rücklin M, Breure ASH (2014) Using micro-CT for 3D visualisations of terrestrial snail soft tissue anatomy. Presented at Molluscan Forum 2014.
Nantarat N, Sutcharit C, Tongkerd P, Ablett J, Naggs F, Panha S (2014) An annotated catalogue of type specimens of the land snail genus Cyclophorus Monfort, 1810 (Caenogastropoda, Cyclophoridae) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 411 : 1 - 56. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.411.7258
Raheem DC, Ablett J, Taylor H, Preece RC, Aravind NA, Naggs FC (2014) A Systematic Revision of the Land Snails of the Western Ghats of India. Chulalongkorn University : 1 - 294.
Breure A, Ablett J (2014) Annotated type catalogue of the Bulimulidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 392 : 1 - 367. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.392.6328
Oheimb, PT, Heiler CM, Ablett J, Naggs FC (2013) Terrestrial gastropods of Vietnam. Patterns of Diversity and Distribution’ Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution Meeting. Presented at Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution Meeting.
Ablett J (2012) Architeuthis dux Steenstrup, 1857: The Giant Squid. Preservation & Display. Presented at Molluscan Forum 2012.
Ablett J (2012) The Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux Steenstrup, 1857 (Mollusca: Cephalopoda): The Making of an Iconic Specimen. NatSCA News, 23 : 16 - 20.
Breure A, Ablett J (2012) Annotated type catalogue of the Bothriembryontidae and Odontostomidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London. ZooKeys, 182 : 1 - 70. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.182.2720
Breure ASH, Ablett JD (2011) Annotated type catalogue of the Amphibulimidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Orthalicoidea) in the Natural History Museum, London.. ZooKeys, 1 - 52. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.138.1847
Gower DJ, Ablett JD (2006) Counting ventral scales in Asian anilioid snakes. HERPETOLOGICAL JOURNAL, 16 (3) : 259 - 263.
Gower DJ, Ablett JD (2002) Scale surface micro- ornamentation in some burrowing snakes. The Annual Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, 18 - 18.