Guido T. Poppe

As the son of an enthusiast sports fisherman, Guido came into contact with the sea at a very young age. He became fascinated by the marine life during yearly holidays in Brittany, France and his first diving experiences started in these cold waters in 1968.

He developed as a professional freelance conchologist which allowed him to dive in many parts of the world: from the northern tip of Norway south to Ushuaia. Apart from the whole of Europe, including the Black sea, he dived in many tropical seas: Baja California, the sea of Cortes, Chile, Argentina, the Caribbean from Florida south to Margarita Island, West Africa with many stays in the Cape Verde Islands and Senegal, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Australia: Queensland and Western Australia, French Polynesia and Rapa Nui. But most of his dives are done in the Philippines: he compiled about 6,000 dives. He lives in Belgium and Philippines today.

His career as a conchologist brought him fame in this field, mainly through the many co-authorships in popular books on the subject:

• 1991 Poppe & Goto : European Seashells Vol. I.
• 1992 Poppe & Goto: Volutes.
• 1993 Poppe & Goto : European Seashells Vol. II.
• 1993 Poppe & Goto: Recent Angariidae.
• 1994 Poppe & Senders: An annotated price catalogue of marine shells.
• 1996 Poppe & Goto: A listing of Living Mollusca. Vol. I and Vol. II, 2 parts each.
• 2005 Anseeuw & Poppe: Pleurotomariidae: An Iconographic visit anno 2005 ≠ as supplement of Visaya.
• 2006 Poppe, Tagaro & Dekker: The Seguenziidae,Chilodontidae, Trochidae, Calliostomatidae and Solariellidae of the Philippine Islands as supplement of Visaya.

In 1999, he started with Klaus Groh the prestigious series "A Conchological Iconography" which today is one of the biggest compilations of reviews of its time. Appeared already:

• 1999 Dance, Poppe & Brulet: The family Harpidae.
• 1999 Kreipl, Poppe, Man in't Veld & De Turck: The family Strombidae.
• 2000 Verhaeghe & Poppe: The family Ficidae.
• 2000 Geiger & Poppe: The family Haliotidae.
• 2001 Bail, Limpus & Poppe: The genus Amoria.
• 2001 Bail & Poppe: A Taxonomic Introduction to the Recent Volutidae.
• 2002 Groh, Poppe & Charles: The family Acavidae.
• 2003 Alf, Kreipl & Poppe: The Family Turbinidae, Subfamily Turbininae, Genus Turbo.
• 2004 Bail & Poppe: The Tribe Lyriini.
• For a more complete bibliography, click here.

Apart from the books, he wrote dozens of popular articles in journals and magazines such as Hawaiian Shell News, Of Sea and Shore, Malacologia, Apex, Novapex, Musorstom, Informations, Gloria Maris, Visaya etc.

He discovered and described over 130 species of new mollusca, mainly in the Volutidae and Trochidae, and more than 30 species have been named after him by scientists from all over the world.

As a collector he build major conchological collections which are now housed in prestigious Muséums all over the world:

• Aesthetic collection in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.
• European collection in the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Florida.
• Trochidae collection in the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de la ville de Geneve, Geneva.
• General collection in the Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, Brussels. The latter collection forms an important addition to the Dautzenberg collection and together both collections are the soul of the conchological collections of the Institute.

In 1996 he was honoured by the MusÈum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris and attributed the title of Correspondent of the MusÈum. In 2006 he received the title of Scientific Associate, Malacologie Section, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

He recently created together with Philippe Poppe the journal, Visaya, a rapidly growing periodical specialised in taxonomy of mollusca.

His diving activities are focused on the Philippine fauna today and he photographs with:

• Nikon Coolpix 5400 in Ikelite housing with Ikelite DS125 Strobe.
• Nikon D-70s in Ikelite housing with Ikelite DS125 Strobe.