Dear Dr. Yamaguchi,
We discussed the Eelgrass Limpet, Lottia alveus (Conrad, 1831) on Conch-L back
in early 1998, when Ross Mayhew reported collecting a specimen he thought might
be that species. I gave him some diapositives of an authentic specimen at the
summer, 1998 COA meeting, and I think he agreed that he had not found L. a.
Anyway, it remains extinct - or at least extirpated from Atlantic waters.
Experts on matters of this sort include James Carlton
<[log in to unmask]> and Erich Haber <[log in to unmask]>, who recently
threatened to put images of my specimen on the cover of an immanently upcoming
Canadian government work on endangered biota. Relevant excerpts of the COA
discussion follow:
"At 12:44 AM 1/25/98 -0400, Ross Mayhew wrote:
>Anyway, has anyone information about
>or references to similar communities, or perhaps an actual alveus to
>spare or lend? (believe it or not, there is not a single valid specimen
>to be found in any local collection, and i would very much like to have
>a close look at one!!)"
To which I replied:
"Dear Ross et al.,
Lottia alveus (Conrad, 1831) may well be the limpet Ross has observed. It is
presently considered extinct in the Atlantic Ocean. If we are talking about
the same critter, we may have made an encouraging discovery and again
demonstrated the indispensability of amateur scientists in field biology.
Two references and an offer:
Gould, S. J. (1991) On the loss of a limpet. Natural History (June): 22-27.
Forsyth, R. (1997) The Eelgrass Limpet Lottia alveus in Boundary Bay, B.C. The
Dredgings: 18. (this is a shell club newsletter).
For comparison with your shells referred to "T." testudinalis (Muller, 1776), I
can lend you my only specimen of L. alveus at C.O.A. '98. It was collected in
the 1930's at Ile au Haut, ME.
Meanwhile, I shall prepare photos. The shell has nearly parallel sides
("elliptical" would not be apt) and measures 8.5 mm. by 5.2 mm."
At 06:52 PM 5/16/00 +0900, Dr. Yamaguchi wrote:
>Dear expert colleagues,
>
>I am organizing data on extinction of molluscs for teaching, and would like to
>find out the present status of the supposed-to-be extinct eel-grass limpet
>along
>the Atlantic coast of North America. Is this limpet (Lottia alveus) still
>missing?
>
>Thank you very much for your help in advance.
>
>Masashi Yamaguchi
Hope this helps,
Harry
Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA 904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm
oo .--. oo .--. oo .--.
\\(____)_ \\(____)_ \\(____)_
`~~~~~~~` `~~~~~~~` `~~~~~~~`
|
