Welcome! I’m Jordy Gerwin van der Beek (January 1^st, 1997). I live in a small town near the city of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. I’m researcher of recent and fossil scaphopod Mollusca. I’m working as junior honorary researcher at the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

As a child I had my own “cabinet of curiosities”. My interests became more and more specialized during time. From the moth-and-carpet-beetle-attracting animals to minerals and fossils. Later molluscs and eventually mainly scaphopods. I bought my first scaphopods from Robert Reuselaars on December 27^th, 2010. I think that was the most important moment in my life. On January 6^th the package arrived and I saw my first scaphopods, two beautiful, grass green Dentalium aprinum Linnaeus, 1767 and two eye catching Dentalium elephantinum Linnaeus, 1758. My passion was born.

I started collecting all the scaphopods that I was able to buy with my newsboy salary. At a certain point I became aware of the description errors in my collection. I always copied the names exactly from the dealers, but 60 % of my collection had a wrong ID. In my search for contact with fellow-sufferers, I became friends with Frans de Jong and Dr. Bernd Sahlmann. In 2013 we started an annual (without prejudice) event in Haus der Natur – Cismar: “The European Scaphopod Workshop”.

At the moment I’m studying Biology at Leiden University. In the spare time I’m working on several research projects dealing with scaphopod molluscs. Please contact me if you have questions about scaphopods or cooperation proposals.

I want to thank all the people, institutions and societies that are in one way or another related to my research. I would like to specially thank Frans de Jong and Dr. Bernd Sahlmann for all the support in the past and in the future.