Rudolf Emil Mell (1878 in Gera, Thuringia – 1970 in Berlin) was a German zoologist and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera especially Sphingidae and the fauna of China. He was the director of the German-Chinese Middle School at Canton (Guangzhou) for some time. His collection of Sphingidae is held by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. It was purchased by Benjamin Preston Clark.