I also deplore bad or minimal data, and unfortunately many dealers'
policy is still to supply this.
I know from personal experience that even when supplied full data,
dealers may not include it all when the specimens are sold.
Below is the text taken from some of my specimen labels:
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Exilia expeditionis (Dell 1956)
Turbinellidae Ptychatractinae
Ref: Dell 1956; Powell 1979; Kantor, Bouchet & Oleinik 2001
Coll: Andrew Grebneff AGR59, RV Munida, 15-4-1997
1 live
600-640m rockdredge
45°46.389'S 171°03.900'E
Papanui Canyon, off Taiaroa Head, Otago Peninsula, Dunedin, east
Otago, SE South Island, New Zealand
Deep mauve when collected, fading to beige even in dark; nodes
whitish. Pale spot at top of columella. Labrum finely-chipped. Was
inoperculate (I checked!). Had flat muddy-looking polyps on shell
when dredged.
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Marinula nsp A
Ellobiidae Pedipedinae
Coll: Andrew Grebneff AGR83c, 13-10-2002
42 live
Upper high-tide zone, on moist rock surfaces & in/on sand 5-20cm
below exposed tops of packed 2-50cm cobbles and scattered boulders at
sheltered foot of 10m leeward cliff; with Tetraclita purpurea, Lasaea
hinemoa, Diloma nigerrima, Nodilittorina cincta, Leuconopsis
obsoleta, Marinula filholi.
I44 2430 9430
West (landward) side of Goat Island (=Mapoutahi), near entrance to
Blueskin Bay, east Otago, SE South I, New Zealand
Formalin-fixed. (here I would put distinguishing characters of the
specimen, or other comments)
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These labels are laser-printed in 4-point font and measure 35x25mm.
These labels are happy in formalin or ethanol solutions for wet
specimens. For very small specimens kept in 50x6mm glass tubes I use
smaller labels 45x7mm:
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Thiara ( ) terpsichore (Gould 1847)
Thiaridae Ref: Haynes 2001 Coll: Andrew
Grebneff 2-12-1992
2 (of 4) live, 0-0.3m depth, rocks among detritus-covered sand/gravel
Ford in Nadi R, first downstream of Savalau Rd ford, Votualevu, west
Viti Levu, Fiji
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When I exchange specimens (to dealers as well as privately... I have
never sold a shell so far, but if you've bought a Chlamys dichroa, it
almost certainly was collected by me) I provide all data possible...
but when dredging the bottom type may well not be known, as apart
from sticky mud, sediments may tend to wash out of the redge on the
way up. I have at one time asked a dealer to withhold the dredging
boat's name... but all specimens collected off Dunedin which have
been sent to dealers have been, unless stated to the contrary, been
dredged by myself on the RV "Munida"... for those lacking this name!
As to dates, the day SHOULD be included for completeness and for the
collector's records, and the international (and only sensible)
standard of day-month-year should be used.
I have heard that ALL Philippines data are falsified by the
collectors, who want to keep their collecting localities totally
secret to avoid competitors getting to them! So all PI specimens not
collected by the dealer himself are basically devoid of all data.
From personal experience I have to say that Femorale's data are the
best I've seen from a dealer, by far. Others please take note! But
please, Marcu et al, include the collector's first name too...
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