Wilhelm August Wenz (21 October 1886 – 12 September 1945) was a German malacologist, born in Frankfurt am Main. He is the author of the 7-part Gastropoda section of Handbuch der Paläozoologie (1938-1944), a very important review that described all known fossil genera. Only a few copies of this rare work survive: almost the entire stock of later editions was destroyed during the Second World War. Bibliography (incomplete) Fischer K. & Wenz W. A. (1914) Die Landschneckenkalke des Mainzer Beckens und ihre Fauna. Wenz W. (1923-1930) "Gastropoda extramarina tertiaria" Fossilium catalogus, I: Animalia. 3387 pp., published in parts. Wenz W. (1938-1944) Teil 1: Allgemeiner Teil und Prosobranchia. In: Schindewolf O. H. (ed.) Handbuch der Paläozoologie, Band 6, Gastropoda, Verlag Gebrüder Bornträger, Berlin, xii + 1639 pp. References Moore, R.C., Lalicker, C.G., and Fischer, A. G., 1952, Invertebrate Fossils, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York; p. 334 Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. V & W 1886 births 1945 deaths German malacologists 20th-century German zoologists