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Date: | Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:51:46 -0500 |
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One list of recently extinct species is available at
http://research.amnh.org/users/mikkel/creo.html
There are some caveats, e.g., the systematics of many species remains problematic, and a few may yet survive in small numbers (e.g., Pleurobema chattanoogaense, P. hanleyianum, P. murrayense, P. rubellum, P. troschelianum, to use the taxonomy in the list). However, freshwater and land mollusks are in severe trouble worldwide, and several more species probably should be added.
Relatively few Pleistocene invertebrates became extinct (e.g., the only Pleistocene insect known to be extinct was a fly that parasitized mammoths). A handful of older Pleistocene marine mollusk species appear to be extinct. However, the Pleistocene faunas already represent the survivors of global climate change in the Pliocene. The rearrangement of ocean circulation that resulted from the closure of the isthmus of Panama in the mid-Pliocene promoted Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Thus, most of the Pleistocene species already knew how to survive global climate change (at least if the change occurred at natural rates).
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
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That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
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