Posting for Paula M. Mikkelsen:

Paleontological Research Institution is proud to announce publication of
Bulletins of American Paleontology, no. 375, "The genus Conus (Mollusca:
Neogastropoda) in the Plio-Pleistocene of the southeastern United States,"
by Jonathan R. Hendricks (178 pp., 20 pls., ISBN 978-0-87710-482-7). See
the full abstract below. The retail price is US $60.00. Please email me
directly for a proforma invoice or order online at www.priweb.org. Members
of PRI and booksellers should contact me first to receive discount prices
for this and other publications of PRI.

Abstract: Conus (or cone) shells are common in many Pliocene and
Pleistocene fossil deposits from the Coastal Plain of the southeastern
United States, but have never been the subjects of a comprehensive
taxonomic review or revision. In total, 84 names (including those of some
Recent species and fossil taxa from other strata or areas) have been
applied to Plio-Pleistocene cone shells from this region, and since Green
described Conus marylandicus in 1830, an additional 59 species have been
described from these strata. Forty of these taxa were described in the
last 17 years and were published outside of the peer-reviewed literature,
making their status as distinct species suspect, particularly because most
are poorly illustrated, perfunctorily described, and based on few
specimens. This makes them nearly impossible to evaluate without direct
inspection of type material and/or access to large suites of specimens.
Evaluating whether these suspect taxon names represent distinctive
morphospecies is critical to attaining an understanding of the
evolutionary history and diversity of Neogene and Recent Conus in the
western Atlantic. The present work provides a systematic treatment of 82
of the 84 names that have been applied to Conus shells from the Plio-
Pleistocene fossil records of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Florida. Here, through application of a conservative morphological
species concept (one that accepts large amounts of intraspecific
morphological variation), 19 of these nominal taxa are accepted as
representing distinctive species of Plio-Pleistocene Conus from this study
area. In addition, this investigation also resulted in the discovery of
one new fossil morphospecies, described here as Conus burnetti n. sp. An
identification key to these 20 species is provided. The status of three
additional, previously described species (known only by their type
specimens) remains less certain. Two names that are likely familiar to
collectors of Plio-Pleistocene Conus from the United States Coastal Plain,
C. floridanus Gabb, 1869, and C. druidi Olsson, 1967, are synonymized,
respectively, with C. cf. largillierti Kiener, 1845, and C. haytensis G.
B. Sowerby II, 1850. All previously described species of sinistral Conus
are considered to belong to one highly morphologically variable species,
C. adversarius Conrad, 1840.


Please forgive cross postings.

********************************************
Paula M. Mikkelsen, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Science
and Director of Publications
Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
Tel. (607) 273-6623, ext. 20
Fax (607) 273-6620
email  [log in to unmask]

"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's
draft."  -H. G. Wells

See "Seashells of Southern Florida: Living Marine Mollusks of the Florida
Keys and Adjacent Regions: Bivalves,"
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8484.html

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