Dear Listers,

I’ve had an email exchange with Harry Lee about the following: where can I find descriptions of genera and families in one place?

I was surprised that Harry’s answer was not so promising for such a thing’s existence. I know that I can go to Abbott (1974) for some general descriptions…but those are somewhat limited and probably quite dated in terms of nomenclature.

What started this inquiry was my discovery of a minute gastropod in drift from Jamaica from this March looking almost exactly like Monogamus minibulla, a eulimid I had already found in 2013 in Jamaica. Here’s the 2013 critter: http://www.jacksonvilleshells.org/monog.htm

Here’s the 2015 item: http://www.jacksonvilleshells.org/mini10.htm

Besides the protoconch color (perhaps from lodged sand), I was struck by the clear columellar fold on this new shell. I wanted to confirm before polling Harry that eulimids usually (“always”) have columellae without plicae. But I couldn’t find such a confirmation. 

Do we really need to go to an original description of a type species for generic and familial descriptions? I’m sure there are aggregations of descriptions of genera and families scattered in various scientific publications. But is this the best we have?

David Kirsh
Durham, NC
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