Jean Paul Louis Pelseneer (Brussels, 26 June 1863 – Brussels, 5 May 1945) was a Belgian malacologist, morphologist, ethologist and phylogenist. In 1880, at the age of seventeen, Pelseneer became a member of the Belgian Malacological Society. He studied at the University of Brussels and in 1884 he obtained his doctor's degree in natural sciences. He continued his studies with the French zoologist Alfred Mathieu Giard at the marine laboratory in Wimereux (Université Lille Nord de France), and concluded his studies with the English invertebrate zoologist Ray Lankester at University College London. Pelseneer then became a teacher of chemistry at the Normal School in Ghent. He devoted himself to zoology during his spare time, without having a laboratory at his disposal.