Maria Schilder, née Hertrich (4 August 1898 – 30 July 1975) was a German malacologist and chemist.
[1] Along with her husband, Franz Alfred Schilder, she systematized molluscs having produced over 250 scientific papers, most on the living and fossil Cypraeidae, or cowries.
[4] The Schilders defined areas of endemism throughout the Indo-West Pacific based on mollusk distributions.
[5] Along with her husband, Schilder identified geographically distinct races (or subspecies) and recognized them taxonomically.
[4] In “Revision of the Genus Monetaria (Cypraeidae)” they researched how Bergmann’s Rule applied to east coastal Australia where the shells are smaller in the warmer north.