Dr. Daniel L. Geiger

Dr. Daniel L. Geiger became interested in orchids in the mid 2000’s, first as a hobby grower, where he pioneered terrarium cultivation of orchids. He specialized in the overlooked fairy orchids (Oberonia) and accidentally became a pre-eminent global expert of the genus. He has published extensively on Oberonia and his expertise has been recognized as a guest editor for a special issue in Rheedea on orchid systematics. Besides ten molluscan species and a snail genus, he also has an orchid species named after him: Dendrochilum geigeri. He served as member and chair of the AOS Research Committee and has spoken on orchids across the US and the globe. The Oberonia monograph "Oberonia Omnia" is on track of being published in 2027 through AOS.

Geiger grew up in Basel, Switzerland. He received his Diplom (≈M.S.) in organismal biology with a Nebenfach (minor) in paleontology from the University of Basel, Switzerland; thesis work was carried out as a visiting post-graduate student at the University College of Swansea, Wales, Great Britain. Subsequently, he earned his Ph.D. in marine biology from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USC). His dissertation on systematics and evolution of abalone received the 2000 Annual Award by the Malacological Society of London. After a W. M. Keck post-doctoral fellowship in molecular systematics at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and teaching appointments at USC, he took a position at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH) in 2005, and became curator emeritus of malacology (past Department Head of Invertebrate Zoology) in 2024. He has held various editorial appointments (Zootaxa, Molluscan Research, Malacologia, Rheedea) and is a member of the IUCN Mollusc Specialist Group. Geiger is recognized for his expertise in macrophotography and scanning electron microscopy, on which he has published various articles and book chapters. Images have been shown in several museums (e.g., Smithsonian Institution, US National Aquarium, SBMNH) and have appeared in many scientific and popular publications.

When not working on snails or orchids, he enjoys photography, gardening with California native plants, playing the viola d’amore (honorary member of the International Viola d’amore Society, e.V.), quality time in the kitchen, wood-turning, teaching yoga (RYT200 & yin), and above all time with ichthyologist Christine E. Thacker.