In recognition of her discovery of graptolites in the northern greywacke zone, her former fellow student, Ida Peltzmann, named two species for her.

[1] She earned her PhD in July 1929, when she was only 23 years old,[1] with a dissertation entitled "Die Productiden des Karbons von Nötsch im Gailtal".

[1][2] In 1937, Aigner and Kahler subdivided the genus Pseudoschwagerina into five subgroups; they then proposed a subgeneric name, Zellia for one of the groups.

[1] In June 1979, the University of Graz ceremonially renewed her doctorate and she was presented the Badge of Honour by the Association of academics.

In recognition of her having made the first discovery of graptolites in the northern Greywacke zone, her former fellow student, Ida Peltzmann, named two species for her.