I was told by a malacologist who met these guys in Wellington last week:

      "This time there were two amateur malacologists, Allan Limpus
from Bundaberg in Queensland, and Patrice Bail from Paris ( France)
around for most of the week looking at the Te Papa [Museum of New
Zealand, exColonial Museum, exNational Museum; what will it be next
week?] modern volutes.  They are apparently going to name some new
taxa including "subspecies"!   You probably know how I feel about
sspp!  However, they are also going to synonymise at least 1 sp.  No
interest in the fossils of course.  They had a few hours out at GNS,
godnose why.  They were also planning to visit AIM (also a bit
pointless except for a few types) and then on to Whangarei to see the
Burchs (good friends of Bruce's) .  Originally they were going to
visit the CM and possibly even get down to Dunedin but changed their
minds.  Both are apparently very rich which I guess is why they are
able to travel wherever they choose looking at volutes!"

Subspecies? I completely agree. Either these forms are members of the
preexisting species... or they are  NEW species. There's no need to
blur the picture with "middle ground".
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
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I want your sinistral gastropods!
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