Dear COA members,
                              I would like to draw your attention to the
69th Annual Meeting of the American Malacological Society which will be held at
the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus during June 25-29th 2003. It
promises to be an exciting conference with a comprehensive coverage of
both marine and non-marine malacofaunas.

Please access our meeting webpage
http://www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/mollusks/ams/ and activate the EVENTS link
(on left) to obtain an overview of the symposia, special sessions and SHOW
SHELL & TELL* events planned, in addition to diverse contributed papers and
posters. The deadline for early registration and for paper/poster submission
is May 1st 2003.

Cheers, Diarmaid Ó Foighil
AMS President

*In an effort to re-engage with the conchological side of malacology, we are
holding a SHOW SHELL & TELL event concurrent with the Poster Session on
Friday afternoon (June 27th).  Four focal groups of mollusks will be
featured, represented by a subsample of constituent taxa and overseen
by AMS personnel.

Tahitian Partula
Coordinators: J. B. Burch and Y. H. Jung
In 1970, Jack Burch surveyed endemic Tahitian partulid land snails.  Five
years later, the alien predator Euglandina rosea was introduced in a
spectacularly inept attempt at biological control.  Learn more about these
fascinating oceanic island snails and the remarkable efforts being made to
conserve them.

Cowries
Coordinator: Chris Meyer
Cowries are among the best known and most aesthetically pleasing marine
snails, and Chris Meyer has become a leading authority on their evolution
and systematics. If you are into cowries, here's your chance ..

Epioblasma
Coordinator: Kevin Cummings
The North American unionid genus Epioblasma, ravaged by recent extinctions,
is characterized by its sexually dimorphic shells.  Kevin will also show
videos of diverse unionid larval release behavior.

Oysters
Coordinator: Diarmaid Ó Foighil
Check out some cool gryphaeids and lophinids, and impressive examples of
xenomorphism.  Will also feature a multi-species edible oyster bar.




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Diarmaid Ó Foighil
Associate Curator of Molluscs, Museum of Zoology
Associate Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079
USA
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 734 647 2193
Fax: 734 763 4080
URL: http://www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/mollusks/people/diarmaid.html