Andrew:

Most of the articles by Tursch (Faculte des Sciences, Universite Libre de
Bruxelles, Belgium) and coworkers which mainly include D. Greifeneder, R.
Duchamps, L Germain, J. Bouillon, and D. Hourt have been published in
"Apex" which is the journal of the Societe Belge de Malacologie.  You can
contact them through their internet site http://www.arkham.be or by email:
cvilvens@prov-liege-be

They have written over the years a series of articles which are called
"Studies on Olividae".  If you are interested in the particular one on the
western atlantic species it is entitled: "A puzzle of highly multiform
species: Oliva fulgurator (Roding, 1798) and related America taxa", Studies
on Olividae 28, Apex, v 13 no. 1-2, published 20 April 1998.  This issue
should still be available.

Tursch and group spent the first dozen or so articles defining
characteristics of Oliva which could be quantitatively measured and then
trying different combinations of variables to see if they would separate
obviously populations (i.e., different species) of Oliva.  After they came
up with an optimum set of variables (or ratios of variables), they then
moved on to looking at some of the more complex Oliva species, to see if
they were valid, or should be split into two species or if some species
needed to be combined under a single name (e.g., Oliva fulgurator).  They
have tackled many species but have a long way to go to do all the existing
species.  One of their other really interesting works was when they tackled
the "Oliva miniacea complex" in Studies on Olividae 25.  Understanding that
the set of variables used for each study may vary in order to give the
optimum separation of species in variant analysis.

The reason that I am so impressed by their techniques is that I am mainly
into paleontology.  Many identifications of Olives has to do with the
overall color, pattern or color inside the lip.  In fossils, I have none of
these so I have had to do my homework over the years and have struggled to
find quantitative parameters that might be used to differentiate species of
fossil Olives.  I realized early on how important the protoconch is for
differentiation of species.  This is why when I buy specimens of Olividae
from dealers I am always "bugging" them about sending specimens with
complete protoconchs!!!

I plan to use their technique in my future work on fossil Olividae,
particularly Oliva and Olivella.  Now that I finally have attachments for
my digital camera for my B&L and Leica (took 9 months to find and get!!!)
microscopes and have my "camera lucida" (drawing tube) I am set to get down
to serious business, barring my health problems getting in the way which
they often do!  So some of you that have not heard from my for a while
about identification of species (if they can be identified), should be
hearing from me in the future.

Another aspect of their work is that they have expended a lot of time going
back and looking at type material and making the same measurements - not an
easy job if any of you have ever tried it!!  In the article on the Oliva
fulgurator complex, they have actually figured as many of the holotypes,
paratypes, and syntypes that they could find so that the reader can actual
see what they look like!  A classy piece of work, even if it was not on
Olivas.  Sorry, but all Apex plates for the Oliva are in black & white.

I still have my Zeigler and Porreca and used it.  It was the premier work
on Oliva for many years.  I also have my copy of Petuch and Sargent.
Petuch introduced to us many new deep water species that Zeigler did not
have access to, species that had been floating around in collections and
lists for many years.  However, Petuch had a tendency to look at end
members of populations (and name them as new species) rather than looking
at variation in populations.  Unfortunately, he also invoke many "older"
names (e.g., from Marrat) without looking at any type material.  Also, his
plates could have been much larger to really be useful.  It looks like
Dennis Sargent took some excellent photographs, but the overall size of the
plates made many of the figures hard to discern any details - a real
disappointment when I first saw the book!

Andrew, this is probably more than you were looking for, but the answer
last night was pretty quick and very late.  Let me know if I can help in
any other way.  I will be very interested any comments once you have had a
chance to see some of the articles.  Unfortunately, several are out of
print.  When I first saw their work, my initial reaction was that I was 10
years behind on their technique!

Paul

At 06:29 PM 11/22/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Paul Drez wrote:
>
>
>> Time was spent in the 3/24/99 email talking about the western Atlantic
>> Olives, with a discussion of Tursch et al's work which for my money is
>> the most definitive work being done by anyone on Olives - worldwide.
>> Most of his work is published in the journal "Apex". He has been using
>> quantitative measurements and multivariant analysis to straighten out
>> the mess in the genus Oliva (recent only) and examining all available
>> types in the process for Oliva. He basically leaves Zeigler and
>> Porreca and Petuch in the "dust". Tursch and group have not look at
>> all species of recent Oliva yet, so do not throw your copies of
>> Zeigler and Petuch away - yet!
>
>Interesting.  Where can I find his work on Olives?  I really shouldn't
>comment until I read them.  I am skeptical and my fingers could fill
>some pages.
>
>Andrew Dickson
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