> Art's question on just how we tell very similar taxa from each other is
> a valid one: so, what we need is a book or arcticle-series which
> summarizes the conchological differerences between taxa - OR, a "Key to
> the Recent Genera of Molluscs" - now i know Ruth Turner has done a nice
> conchological key for NE North America, but has anyone done one for a
> larger, more diverse area??
Well, with just 242 years of literature and 100,000 described species that
shouldn't take long, should it? Seriously, if the Gastropod section of the
Treatise on Invertebrate Palaeontology has taken this long - with no sign
of completion as yet - the sort of project you propose here would be like
building the pyramids with a teaspoon.
It could be taken on as a collaborative, web-based project - a massive list
of taxa would be put on a website, and interested parties would upload text
to go with them, bit by bit. I expect each Cypraeid genus would have about
200 pages of contentious, ill-mannered screed attached to it, while the
poor old Rissoids would remain devoid of explanation till Kingdom Come.
No substitute for a decent library yet, comrades.