Dear Conch-L listers,

A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to spend two
days collecting in southeast Florida (Lauderdale to
the Upper Keys).  I spent most of that time looking
for landsnails but have a reaction to this, my first
visit to Florida and a number of questions- one
marine, one fossil and one landsnail.

REACTION:  Coming from Southern California, I was
completely blown away by the amount of shells evident
everywhere!  Be it the fossils peaking out of just
about any patch of earth or the land shells that
seemed to be almost everywhere, the sheer volume of
shell material around was staggering.

QUESTIONS:

1) In the Upper Keys, I encountered three different
forms of Truncatella.  One has finer, abundant
ribbing, the second has a lesser number of heavier
axial ribs and the third (larger than #'s 1 & 2) is
smooth with evidence of ribs only showing at the
sutures.

Each of my references gives different info regarding
1,2 or 3 species and the possible id.  Can someone
clarify for me:  Are these three different species
and, if so, what are they (I've got #1 pegged as
Truncatella pulchella)?

2) I encountered quite a few bleached marine shells
(all seemed to be recent species) in packed mud
associated with limestone in the Upper Keys.  Are
these fossils or simply dredged?  If fossils, what
formation?

3) In Miami, I found three different color forms of
Drymaeus (not including D. multilineatus which I
encountered elsewhere).  One is honey colored with
some faint color banding and darker growth lines (like
the species seen on the Jacksonville website), one
off-white with a single thin brown spiral band, and
the third dark brown with a white/brown/white band.

I've tentatively id'ed the first as D. dominicus and
wonder if the third is the species I've alternately
seen id'ed as D. guadalupensis and D. exilis.  The
second color form could be either, I suppose.  Any
clarity here will be appreciated.

Finally, I want to thank the Florida collectors who
gave me advise on where to collect, especially

Kurt Auffenberg,
Mark Johnson,
David Kirsh,
Harry Lee, and
Phil Poland
(If I neglected to mention anyone, thank you too).

Thanks,

Phil Liff-Grieff

=====
Phil Liff-Grieff
2447 Kemper Avenue
La Crescenta, CA  91214
(818) 541-1232
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