Dear Tom, other floater-fanciers, and those who haven't the grit to simply
delete these messages before reading,
(1) Sam, as you refer to him, specifically mentioned "rousse" in referring
to the nacre of his Anodonta atra.
(2) Sam specifically said the taxon was collected in the Hudson River
(which nicely coincides with his tutoring some of my children's cousins
(true!) at Livingston-on-Hudson just before his first trip west through
Pennsylvania. Once across the Allegheny divide, he had his first chance
for a Pycanodon grandis.
(3) Dillwyn based his Mytilus fucatus on an illustration in Lister (which I
have before me thanks to the miracle of xerography). There is an
inscription next to the effigy of the shell; it reads "vir." This
certainly means Virginia, from which colony the Reverend John Bannister
sent Dr. Lister freshwater mollusks. Other taxa thus marked (Mytilus
fluviatilis and M. radiatus of Dillwyn; Mya complanata of Lightfoot) are
clearly of that provenance. Simpson simply didn't get the whole picture;
he was wrong.
While there are more details involved, these are important but neglected
facts that impelled me to question the authority of our popular taxonomy.
Harry
At 07:35 AM 10/10/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Harry and innocent bystanders:
>
>Anodonta atra Rafinesque, 1820, was described without illustration and
>locality, and the characteristics could fit several anodontines. Although
>he mentions the white anterior nacre and iridescent posterior nacre, which
>certainly occurs in A. implicata, that feature often occurs in P. grandis,
>particularly large ones. Bearing in mind that Sam was describing shells
>from the "riviere Ohio," it is more likely in my mind that he had a grandis
>variant than the eastern implicata. While cataracta once ranged as far west
>as the Tuscarawas River in Ohio, implicata (as you mentioned) is limited to
>coastal areas.
>
>Simpson placed Mytilus fucatus Dillwyn, 1817, in the synonymy of Anodonta
>cygnea, a European species. I do not have access to Dillwyn... on what do
>you base your identification?
>
>PS. The field season here has drawn to an abrupt, rainy, cold end. To all
>of the people to whom I owe exchanges - I apologize - I haven't forgotten
>you and you won't have to wait much longer!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>*****************************************
> G Thomas Watters, PhD
> Ohio Biological Survey &
> Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
> The Ohio State University
> 1315 Kinnear Road
> Columbus, OH 43212 USA
> v: 614-292-6170 f: 614-292-0181
>******************************************
>
>"The world is my oyster except for months with an 'R' in them" - Firesign
>Theater
>
>"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he
>has to buy a license" - GTW
>
>"Beliefs are more powerful than facts" - Duke Paulus Atreides
Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA 904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm
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