Jan Adrianus Herklots (born 17 August 1820 in Middelburg, Zeeland; died 31 March 1872 in Zoeterwoude) was a Dutch zoologist whose main areas of research were carcinology and the echinoderms .
In 1846 he was appointed as curator of invertebrates at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden, succeeding Wilhem de Haan, a position which he held until his death in 1872,[1] his successor was Christiaan Karel Hoffmann.
[2] In June 1851 he graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy, and his dissertation was entitled Additamenta ad faunam carcinologicam Africa occidentalis on the crustaceans from the Guinea coast, based on samples brought to the Netherlands by Hendrik Pel.
He was also the author of important works on coelenterates, especially sea pens (Pennatulacea), and both modern and fossil taxa of echinoderms.
The Natural History Museum in Leiden has several invertebrate specimens collected by Herklots on Noordwijk beach.