Text Box:     Number 52 (February 2009)
Text Box: The Malacologist

Jonathan R Hendricks

The genus Conus (Mollusca:Neogastropoda) in the Plio-Pleistocene of the southeastern United States

 

Bulletins of American Paleontology no. 375. 178 pp. 20 pls. ISBN 978-0-87710-482-7. US$ 60.00. Order online at www.priweb.org, or email Paula Mikkelsen at Paleontological Research Institution (pmm...@cornell.edu) for a pro forma invoice.

Cone shells are common in the Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil deposits from the coastal plain of SE USA. 84 names have been applied to Plio-Pleistocene cone shells from the region, but many taxa were described poorly and from few specimens, severely impacting on our understanding of the evolutionary history of Conus in the West Atlantic. Tis work gives a systematic treatment to these names, resulting in 19 distinctive species , and the discovery of a new morphospecies. An identification key to the 20species is given. C. floridanus and C.cf largillierti are synonymized, as are C. druidi and C. haytensis, while a.ll sinistral Conus are considered to belong to C. adversarius.

 

Harriet Wood and Jennifer Gallichan     2008

The new molluscan names of Cesar-Marie-Felix Ancey

£15 +P&P: contact  Harr...@museumwales.ac.uk for an order form.

Ancey (1860-1906) focussed on land and freshwater snails from Hawaii, central Asia, north and south America, Europe and Africa, contributing 762 names in 176 papers. The book contains a biography, lists Ancey’s 762 new names and 176 papers, and refers to the many type material in the Melvill-Tomlin collection of the Museum of Wales, and the Dautzenberg collection in Brussels.

Adrián González Guillén      2008

Cuba, the Landshells Paradise

Greta Editores, Lleida, Spain Euro 79. $119.95.  Hard cover. 306 pp, 6 3/4 x 9 ¾ “, 17 x 24.5 cm.

Text Box: NEW BOOKS
Text Box: NEW BOOKS

Cuba has over 1400 land snail species, 96% of which are endemic.They include the brilliantly coloured Orthalicidae such as Liguus, and Helmintoglyptidae, such as Polymita, and the rippling and spiny sculptured shells of the Annulariidae. This beautifully illustrated book is in Spanish with a side-by-side English translation. The book is a study of a complex ecosystem, with chapters including the conquest of land, Cuban molluscan diversity, ground dwelling landsnails, rock-dwellers, arboreal molluscs, Multi-coloured fragility –the protected Polymita, S.O.S. Liguus, predators and survival, and threatened or endangered.

 

Sarah Lucas

Snail Park

This children’s book follows on from Snail Trail and Snails don’t burp! A series suitable for bedtime reading and for confident readers aged 5-13 years. At £5.99 +£1.08 p&p (for any one in the series.)  From madaboutsnailbooks.com or the author at 1 Riseley Cottages,GU34 3RN. Cheques to Professional Marketing Ltd. Selborne Road, Newton Valence, Alton, Hampshire,

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