Part Two: Neotaenioglossa

Charles Cachia, Constantine Mifsud & Paul M. Sammut. 1996.

Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 228 pages, 19 b/w plates. Paperback ISBN 90-73348-48-X. Price NLG 84.00
(1 NLG = approx. £0.40, so £33.60)

This is an annotated, illustrated fauna list (rather than a field guide) describing the occurrence of some 225 neotaenioglossans on the islands of Malta, Gozo, Comino and Filfla. A check list is followed by the systematic section in which each species is briefly described, its Maltese distribution summarised and placed in its Mediterranean context, and a reference provided for further information. At least one drawing of each species is given in the plates which follow the text.

The book follows the general pattern of Part 1, published in 1991 by Grima Printing and Publishing Industries, Marsa, Malta at £5. Part 2 has a larger format, better line drawings and generally gives an air of a higher quality production, apart from the absence of colour plates (Part 1 has 12). Surprisingly, there is no information provided about Malta in Part 2. There is nothing to say where the islands are, no map to locate places mentioned in the text, and no information about the environment. To assume that all readers of Part 2 have a copy of Part 1 (with its 24 pages of introduction) beside them is not really fair - especially when different publishers are involved.

The nomenclature and taxonomy is based on Sabelli et al. (1990), and so is inevitably dated. Melarhaphe neritoides and Nodilittorina punctata are both listed under Littorina, for example.

The authors are to be congratulated for persevering with their task of publicising Malta's marine Mollusca (see also 1993). This is pioneering work: there is no previous account for Malta and few other English-language accounts of Mediterranean species. Zoogeographically, these small, rather isolated islands lie in the transition zone between the eastern and western basins in the Mediterranean, close to a shallow submarine ridge connecting Sicily with Africa, and their fauna is certainly worthy of study (see Gianuzzi-Savelli et al., 1994).

John Crothers

REFERENCES

Cachia, C., Mifsud, C., & Sammut, P.M. 1991. The Marine Shelled Mollusca of the Maltese Islands. (Part 1: Archaeogastropoda). Grima, Malta.

Cachia, C., Mifsud, C., & Sammut, P.M. 1993. An annotated check-list of the marine Mollusca of the Maltese islands. Erste Vorarlberger Malakologische Gesellschaft. Rankweil, Austria.

Gianuzzi-Savelli, R., Pusateri, F., Palmeri, A. & Ebredo, C. 1994. Atlante delle conchiglie marine del Mediterraneo. Edizione de "La Conchiglia", Rome.

Sabelli, B., Gianuzzi-Savelli,R., & Bedulli, O. 1990. Catalogo Annotato dei Molluschi Marini del Mediterraneo. 3 vols. S.I.M., edizione. Lib. Natur. Bolognese.

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