Well, I thought I was working with a "normal sized " snail, but
microshells/snails sounds so much better.
Does anyone know what the smallest size for a mature snail species is? I've
just been sizing juvenile Microxeromagna armillata - about 2000 under 2mm
diameter, and I was hoping that someone was looking at smaller shells than I
am!

Angela

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-----Original Message-----
From: Helmut Nisters [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, 21 October 1999 11:36 pm
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: microshells


Dear Conchlers,

There are a lot of explanations for that what microshells are.
I'll give you one of my mother. Microshells are shells, which you
hardly can discover with free eyes. On the other hand you need
a microscope or a lens to see their nice structure. There are
as well inlandshells and seashells or also some bivalves, which
are really micros. So I'll say up to 5 mm, the other are just giants.
Look at some Skeneidae or Cingulopsidae from the Mediterranean.
Some Hydrobiidae for freshwater samples eg.
with best shelling greetings
Helmut from Innsbruck



Helmut Nisters
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone and fax: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
url: www.netwing.at/nisters/

or

Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
malacological collection
Feldstr. 11a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86-37