Each lake in Europe had nearly its own forms or nominated subspecies. There
are
a lot of forms not to recognize.
Helmut


Helmut "Helix" Nisters
private:
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.netwing.at/nisters
office:
Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
Feldstrasse 11a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at


----------
> Actually I had the same request earlier in the week and here is how I
replied:
>
> The last worldwide revision on the Order Unionoida was done by Fritz
> Haas in 1969.  In his exhaustive monograph he recognized about 835
> taxa.  However, of those 835 he recognized 353 North American species
> of which we currently recognize only about 300 (so he overshot the NA
> species by about 50).  So if you subtract 353 from his total of 835
> you get 482 in the rest of the world.  I have NO idea if he is even
> in the ballpark for the species that exist outside NA, but no one has
> worked on compiling species lists for each continent and comparing
> those numbers with Haas' estimate, so long story short, we will run
> with his number of 482.  Now we add 300 back to the 482 and we get a
> total of 782 worldwide.  As a side note I am compiling a database of
> all of the nominal species of mussels worldwide (basically databasing
> Haas) and I have well over 3100 names in the file.  Given the crazy
> SOB's in Europe describing every three differences in a shell as a
> new species (and running up the synonomies into the hundreds for each
> species recognized today) there are well over 5000 names in the
> literature.  Probably more than you wanted to know.
>
> >
> >Date:    Tue, 14 Nov 2000 19:05:15 -0500
> >From:    Alan Gettleman <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Re: Freshwater
> >
> >Thomas E. Eichhorst wrote:
> >>
> >>  Quick question for the freshwater folks.  I have been told there are
about
> >  > 300 freshwater mussel species in the US.  Is this right?  How about
> >>  worldwide?
> >>
> >>  Thanks,
> >>
> >>  Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA
> >
> >Tom,
> >
> >I'll answer that question if you answer how many land or marine spp. are
> >there in the United States or world.  The real musselheads of the world
> >Kevin Cummings and Tom Watters and (I praise Harry Lee by also including
> >him in this group) can provide more precise data, but here is a start:
> >The "best" checklist listing, by my count 305 spp. is Common and
> >Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertebrates from the United States and
> >Canada: Mollusks. Second Edition.  American Fisheries Society Special
> >Publication 26.  Edited by Donna D. Turgeon, et. al. 1998. I beleive the
> >cost is about $60. with CD-ROM.
> >Non-U.S. numbers are harder to come by......
> >
> >Now I am curious also.  What other lists are out there for non U.S.
> >Unionids??
> >
> >Alan Gettleman
> >Merritt Island, FL
> >PLAN TO ATTEND COA 2001 CONVENTION AT CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA July
> >7-11,2001.
> >
>
>
> There are many but it is very hard to compile and compare to Haas'
> estimte.  Sounds like a good project for this winter!
>
>
> Kevin
> --
> Kevin S. Cummings
> Illinois Natural History Survey
> 607 E. Peabody Drive
> Champaign, IL 61820
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk.html
>