Dear Listers,
you also may have a look to
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/bulletin/bulletin_vols.htm for online and pdf
versions of  this and some other papers. Thanks to Harry for announcing this
valuable paper.
Bernd Sahlmann

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry G. Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 12:48 AM
Subject: [CONCH-L] New monograph on Florida naiades


> Dear Listers,
>
> I just received my copy of Williams /et al./ (2011). It was published
> eight days ago.
>
> This is an essential reference for anyone who wants to improve his
> understanding of the complexity of the taxonomy and nomenclature of some
> of the most the most puzzling and pleiomorphic of all molluscan
> assemblages - the freshwater mussels of Florida.
>
> Williams and colleagues have carefully compiled a complete inventory of
> all nominal taxa of pearly freshwater mussels named from watercourses
> lying at least partially within our state. For each of these 149
> species-level names the original figure, and/or a photograph of an
> authentic specimen - almost always a primary type (holotype, lectotype,
> or neotype) is provided. This invaluable aspect of the research resulted
> from visits to major museums, mostly the USNM, where Williams was able
> to take *color* photographs of a primary type of about 100 of these,
> virtually all for the first time.
>
> Of these 149 names, only 41 (28%) are considered valid. Of the 65 valid
> species recognized in the study area, a few (e.g. /Lampsilis
> binominatus, Obovaria haddletoni) /have not been found in FL/ per s/e,
> only occurring upstream of the AL and/or GA border. Some 23 nominal
> species were not originally described from the study area but are senior
> synonyms of many of the 149. For sake of completeness, one species, a
> /Toxolasma/, was included in the inventory. One species, /Fusconaia
> appalachicola/ Williams and Franklin, 1999, is known only from
> pre-Columbiana archeological remains. Thus the inclusive total of
> species known from living material is 64, one of which remains un-named.
>
> As for the great number of nominal taxa sunken in synonymy, one lineage
> in particular, the genus /Elliptio/ Rafinesque, 1819, stands out. It has
> been a rat's nest for collectors and taxonomists for a century and a
> half, and many of these taxa had been synonymized by other workers,
> notably R.I. Johnson. There are some interesting new twists in the
> /Elliptio/ synonymies, including, but not limited to, the recognition of
> 13 valid species among the 71 candidate names - a bit up from earlier
> treatments. Starting with 39 names, the St. Johns R. drainage fauna is
> pared down to four species: /E. ahenea, //E. jayensis, //E. monroensis,
> /and/ E. occulta/, the widely-applied binomina, /E. waltoni/ (B.H.
> Wright, 1888) and /E. buckley/i (I. Lea, 1843) being synonymized with
> the first and third of these respectively.
>
> It is clear that much of this report is a prelude to monographic
> treatment of the Unionoida of peninsular Florida, and that job will be
> greatly simplified by this carefully and elegantly-executed taxonomic
> analysis.
>
> The work (see bibliographic citation below) is available from the
> Managing Editor of the /Bulletin/
> Florida Museum of Natural History
> University of Florida
> PO box 117800
> Gainesville, FL 32611-7800
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Williams, J.D., R.S. Butler, J.N. Wisnewski, 2011. Annotated synonymy of
> the Recent freshwater mussel taxa of the families Margaritiferidae and
> Unionidae described from Florida and drainages contiguous with Alabama
> and Georgia. /Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 51/(1):
> 1-84. Dec. 21.
>
> Harry
>

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