Timothy Pearce

Timothy Pearce is Curator of Mollusks at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he conducts research on land snails and cares for and promotes use of the huge research collection of snails and clams (1.4 million specimens). His MS in snail paleontology and his PhD in snail ecology give him a valuable perspective on how time has affected the makeup of modern snail communities.

Pearce received his PhD (1994) and MS (1991) in biology from the University of Michigan. His post-doctoral work at SUNY–Stony Brook from 1995–1996 focused on Madagascar’s land snails. He received his MA in paleontology from the University of California–Berkeley in 1988 and his BS in marine biology from Evergreen State College in 1979.

Prior to his appointment at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 2002, he was Assistant Curator of Mollusks at the Delaware Museum of Natural History from 1997–2001.

Pearce’s research focuses on ecology and systematics of mollusks, especially terrestrial snails and slugs of the northeastern United States. He also pursues the biogeography of land snails on islands in the Great Lakes, distribution and ecology of land snails on California islands, and systematics of North American land snails.

Pearce has published more than 55 peer-reviewed scientific papers on mollusks. He has been known to tell snail jokes.