Maria Emilie Snethlage (April 13, 1868 – November 25, 1929) was a German-born Brazilian naturalist and ornithologist who worked on the bird fauna of the Amazon.

Maria Emilie Snethlage was born in Kraatz (now part of Gransee) in the Province of Brandenburg, Prussia, and educated privately by her father Rev.

Snethlage was one of the pioneer women to attend university and she continued her studies in Jena and Freiburg, obtaining a doctorate in 1904, summa cum laude.

[1][5] She died of heart failure in Porto Velho, Rondônia, and was buried at the cemetery of inocentes while on a field trip.

In her last letter, written shortly before she died, Snethlage mentions meeting the English butterfly collector Margaret Fountaine.

[5] Snethlage's tody-tyrant, Hemitriccus minor, was described as a new species by her, while the Madeira parakeet, Pyrrhura snethlageae, described as new to science in 2002, was named in her honour.