James,

There are four species of Punctum known to live in the eastern U. S., and I
have collected all four.  A fifth species, P. parvulum Leonard, 1972, is
limited to Pleistocene deposits in Illinois.  I doubt P. pygmaeum naturally
occurs in the New World.  Both P. smithi Morrison, 1935 and P. minutissimum
(I. Lea, 1841) have been recorded from Ohio, and P. vitreum H. B. Baker,
1930 is likely there, too.

Even the giants in American malacology have misidentified native Puncta as
P. pygmaeum.  Pilsbry (1948) reported that W. G. Binney (1878; 1885) and
"most American authors from that time to 1930" mistook P. minutissimum for
P. pygmaeum.  Pilsbry went on to indicate that he and James Ferriss (1906)
mistook P. vitreum for P. pygmaeum.

I think you must consider the fact that you have one of these three until
demonstrated otherwise.  When you hear hoofbeats, think horses - not zebras.

Harry


At 12:28 AM 3/12/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear all,
>I have yet another question. Does Punctum pygmaeum Draparnaud,
>1801 exist in the Great Lakes area of the US, including Ohio? I found
>a specimen that almost exactly matches specimens of P. pygmaeum from
>Austria (special thanks to Helmut). I've also heard that this species can
>be found in the Pleistocene beds of Ohio. Did they get stuck in Eurasia
>at the end of the Pleistocene, or do they remain? I'm pretty eager to
>find
>out!
>
>Thanks In Advance,
>James
>
>James M. Cheshire
>(a.k.a. Jeremiah Chess)
>3185 Raccoon Valley Rd.
>Granville, OH 43023-9472
>USA

**********************************************************
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:
www.jaxshells.org

oo  .--.  oo  .--.  oo  .--.
 \\(____)_ \\(____)_ \\(____)_
  `~~~~~~~` `~~~~~~~` `~~~~~~~`