Dear 'Blue' and other interested Conch-L readers,

This is an interesting list produced with the help of some highly qualified
people. Yet I doubt whether we can rely on this list for 100% and I will
illustrate it with one example:
"Trochoidea picardi".
First of all the correct name should read: Xerocrassa davidiana picardi. All
the species recorded in the past from Israel as belonging to the genus
Trochoidea turned out to belong in reality to the genus Xerocrassa because
of differences in the anatomy.
Secondly it is a local subspecies confined in its distribution to a few
sandstone outcrops in the eastern part of the greater Tel Aviv-area. The
nominal subspecies Xerocrassa davidiana davidiana has a relatively wide
distribution on similar sandstone ridges running parallel the Mediteranean
coast of Israel. While the latter has a more or less flat shell, picardi is
characterized by a pagoda-like shell.
Third: the range of Xerocrassa davidiana picardi is now confined to one or
two tiny outcrops in the Ramat Gan-Givatayyim area were it is still
producing each year a new generation.
Fourth: It is therefore not extinct but a highly endangered species, because
all these sandstone outcrops turn slowly but steadily into residental areas.
See also for this matter: Mienis, H.K., 2003. Xerocrassa davidiana picardi:
a terrestrial snail on the brink of extinction in Israel. Tentacle, 11:
10-11. (This newsletter is available on the internet)
Therefore my question reads: Are all the 387 species mentioned on the list
really extinct, or is there still hope for tiny rest populations for some of
them?
Best regards,

Henk K. Mienis

----- Original Message -----
From: "blue cameron" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2004 8:16 AM
Subject: Extinctions


> Here is a list of 387 recently extinct molluscs, including marine
> gastropods.

> http://research.amnh.org/users/mikkel/creo.html

> blue
> austin, tx