Hello,

I, Thomas Schampaert, just subscribed to the CONCH-L list. To
introduce myself, I send you this message.

What should I tell about myself? Nothing much to talk about ...
because I'm a starting amateur. Some general informations: I'm a 19
year old Belgian student who discovered his obsession in Mollusca 3
years ago. Since my 'toddler'-years I was interested in everything
that had to deal whit nature in general, especially the 'creepy
crawlers': insects, spiders, worms, etc. I never lost this interest
and it resulted in my studies in Biological Sciences at the Catholic
University in Leuven.

3 years ago, when walking along the beach at Rhodos a found a
beautiful specimen of Euthria cornea and then it all started ... .
Looking for books, papers, making small trips to collect shells in
Belgium, etc. In 1998 I became a member of the Belgian Society for
Conchology (Antwerp). This was 'the big step forward': my interest in
shells differentiated progressively.

I'm generally interested in paleobiology, systematics and phylogeny of
the phylum Mollusca. I'm collecting European seashells but I am much
more interested in landsnails and slugs. My favourite family is the
family Clausiliidae. Other families on the list: Neritidae, Triviidae,
Ficidae, Mytilidae and Tellinidae.

At the very moment I have only one question, but seemingly a difficult
one (nobody was able to help me before): is there any book or paper
describing Clausiliidae in general, is there any book that could be
referred to as a 'standard' in the study in Clausiliidae?

Thanks for reading this 'introduction', I'm expecting a lot of the new
abilities to explore with my new subsrcibtion.

Yours,

Thomas Schampaert