Diethard Tautz (born 17 August 1957 in Glonn) is a German biologist and geneticist, who is primarily concerned with the molecular basis of the evolution of mammals.

[2] Tautz's research covers a broad interest area in the fields of molecular evolution and developmental genetics.

[5] For his second postdoc phase in Tübingen, he switched to developmental genetics joining the groups around Herbert Jäckle and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard.

[11] As professor for Zoology in Munich he expanded his interests into the fields of population genetics, speciation research and molecular phylogeny reconstruction.

He is an elected member of several scientific organisations and academies, for example European Molecular Biology Organization and the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina.