Heinrich Balss

{{short description|German zoologist}}

Heinrich Balss (3 June 1886 – 17 September 1957) was a German zoologist, specialising in Crustacea, especially decapods.{{cite web |url=http://faculty.nmu.edu/ncumberl/Neil/MainFWC-website/FWCCarcinologists.html |title=Scientists who have contributed to our knowledge of freshwater crab biology |author=Neil Cumberlidge & Sadie K. Reed |date=February 27, 2006 |accessdate=January 13, 2011 |publisher=Northern Michigan University |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720013702/http://faculty.nmu.edu/ncumberl/Neil/MainFWC-website/FWCCarcinologists.html |archivedate=July 20, 2011 }} He was chief conservator at the {{lang|de|Zoologische Staatssammlung}} ("State Zoology Collection") at the University of Munich, and wrote the sections on decapods and stomatopods in Heinrich Georg Bronn's seminal work {{lang|de|Klassen und Ordnungen des Tierreichs}} ("Classes and Orders of the Animal Kingdom").

A number of taxa are named in his honour:{{cite web |url=http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/petymol.b.html |title=Heinrich Balss |work=Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names |publisher=Göteborgs Universitet |author=Hans G. Hansson |accessdate=January 13, 2011 |archive-date=December 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202163156/https://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/petymol.b.html |url-status=dead }}

• Balssia Kemp, 1922
• Podocallichirus balssi (Monod, 1935)
• Detocarcinus balssi (Monod, 1956)
• Trizocheles balssi (Stebbing, 1914)
• Rhynchocinetes balssi Gordon, 1936
• Ctenocheles balssi Kishinouye, 1926
• Lebbeus balssi Hayashi, 1992
• Galathea balssi S. Miyake & K. Baba, 1964