Phillip A. Maxwell

Maxwell was born in Christchurch, attending Christ's College on a scholarship, later studying chemistry at Canterbury University. While completing his degree, Maxwell was inspired to study geology and paleontology after a field trip to Westland, winning the Sir Julius von Haast Prize for BSc (Hons) in Geology.^[1] For his Master of Science, Maxwell mapped the geology of the Kaiwara Valley of North Canterbury,^[1] and for his PhD focused on studying cenozoic mollusca, especially the Eocene molluscs found at the Waihao River in South Canterbury,^[3] which won Maxwell the McKay Hammer Award of the Geological Society of New Zealand.^[1]

After completing his master's degree, Maxwell began working for the New Zealand Geological Survey in Lower Hutt.^[1] Major publications of Maxwell's included his research into late Miocene mollusca of Stillwater Mudstone at Greymouth, and a major overview of New Zealand Cenozoic molluscan fauna in 1990, Cenozoic Mollusca of New Zealand, which won a DSIR Ministerial Award for Excellence in Scientific Research.^[1] A major work by Maxwell covering Eocene molluscs of the Waihaorunga Valley, covering more than 350 species, remains unpublished.^[1]

Maxwell moved to Waimate in 1990, and became a contract curator for Canterbury Museum.^[1] While Maxwell primarily focused on molluscs, his fieldwork led to discoveries outside of his field, including an archaeoceti skull Maxwell uncovered,^[1] and the holotype of Kaiika maxwelli, also known as Maxwell's penguin, which he discovered near the Waihao River in November 1998.^[4]

A significant amount of Maxwell's mollusc collection is held in the collections of Te Papa.^[5]

Maxwell had four children together with his wife Sue.^[1] Maxwell's hobbies included folk music, succulents, stamp collecting and construction using Meccano.^[1]

• Gemmocolus P. A. Maxwell, 1992
• Glyphea christeyi Feldmann & Maxwell, 1999
• Itiscala P. A. Maxwell, 1992
• Maoraxidae Bandel, Gründel & Maxwell, 2000
• Pileolidae Bandel, Gründel & Maxwell, 2000
• Sphaerocinidae Janssen & Maxwell, 1995
• Spinoseila P. A. Maxwell, 1992
• Tahuia P. A. Maxwell, 1992
• Zeatoma P. A. Maxwell, 1992

Scholia has a profile for Phillip Alan Maxwell (Q21502926).

• Beu, A.G.; Maxwell, P.A. (1968). "Molluscan evidence for Tertiary sea temperatures in New Zealand: a reconsideration". Tuatara. 16: 69–74.
• Maxwell, P.A. "Middle Tertiary Mollusca from North Otago and South Canterbury, New Zealand, with a review of New Zealand species of Venericardia (Carditidae, Pelecypoda)". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand Geology. 6: 155–185.
• Maxwell, Phillip A. (January 1978). "Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on some New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca, with descriptions of new taxa". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 5 (1): 15–46. doi:10.1080/03014223.1978.10423743. ISSN 0301-4223. Wikidata Q99647734.
• Beu, A.G.; Maxwell, P.A. (1987). "A revision of the fossil and living gastropods related to Plesiotriton Fischer, 1884 (family Cancellariidae, subfamily Plesiotritoninae n. subfam.) with an appendix: Genera of Buccinidae Pisaniinae related to Colubraria Schumacher, 1817". New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin. 54: 1–140.
• Maxwell, Phillip A. (1988), Late Miocene deep-water mollusca from the stillwater mudstone at Greymouth, Westland, New Zealand: palaeoecology and systematics, Palaeontological Bulletin, LCCN 90118499, OCLC 21301858, Wikidata Q136815259
• Campbell, H. J.; Andrews, P. B.; Beu, A. G.; Edwards, A. W.; Hornibrook, NdeB; Laird, MG; Maxwell, P.A.; Mildenhall, D.C.; Watters, W.A. "Cretaceous–Cenozoic lithostratigraphy of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 18: 285–308.
• Wood, RA; Andrews, P.B.; Herzer, R.H.; Cook, R.A.; Hornibrook, NdeB; Hoskins, R.H.; Beu, A. G.; Maxwell, P.A.; Keyes, I.W.; Raine, J.I.; Mildenhall, D.C.; Wilson, G.J.; Smale, D; Soong, R; Watters, WA (1989). "Cretaceous and Cenozoic geology of the Chatham Rise region, South Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Geological Survey Basin Studies. 3: 1–75.
• Beu, A.G.; Maxwell, P.A. (1990). "Cenozoic Mollusca of New Zealand". New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin. 58: 1–518.
• Feldmann, RM; Maxwell, PA (1990). "Late Eocene decapod Crustacea from North Westland, South Island, New Zealand". Journal of Paleontology. 64: 779–797.
• Maxwell, P.A. (1992). "Eocene Mollusca from the vicinity of McCulloch's Bridge, Waihao River, South Canterbury, New Zealand: paleoecology and systematics". New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin. 65: 1–280.
• Beu, A.G.; Griffin, M; Maxwell, P.A. (1997). "Opening of Drake Passage gateway and Late Miocene to Pleistocene cooling reflected in Southern Ocean molluscan dispersal: evidence from New Zealand and Argentina". Tectonophysics. 281: 83–97.
• Bandel, K.; Gründel, J.; Maxwell, P.A. (2000). "Gastropods from the upper Early Jurassic/early Middle Jurassic of Kaiwara Valley, North Canterbury, New Zealand". Paläontologie Stratigraphie Fazies 8; Freiberger Forschungshefte. C490: 67–132.
• Crampton, James S.; Beu, Alan G.; Cooper, Roger A.; Jones, Craig M.; Marshall, Bruce; Maxwell, Phillip A. (12 June 2003). "Estimating the rock volume bias in paleobiodiversity studies". Science. 301 (5631): 358–360. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.1085075. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12805555. Wikidata Q31146176.
• Cooper, Roger A.; Maxwell, Phillip A.; Crampton, James S.; Beu, Alan G.; Jones, Craig M.; Marshall, Bruce A. (2006). "Completeness of the fossil record: Estimating losses due to small body size". Geology. 34 (4): 241. Bibcode:2006Geo....34..241C. doi:10.1130/G22206.1. ISSN 0091-7613. Wikidata Q58457451.
• Maxwell, P.A. (2009). "Cenozoic Mollusca". In Gordon, D.P. (ed.). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. pp. 232–254. ISBN 978-1-877257-72-8.