>Hello Andrew,
>
>      Thank you for the update on the placement of Macron lividus. :)
>In searching
>www.gastropods.com I was unable to find reference to any species in
>the genus.  Really
>interesting, since it still superficially looks like it should be a
>whelk of some kind.
>
>Sincerely,
>Tim Blackwood

Hi Tim

The family is little-known and has generally been considered a
subfamily of Buccinidae. It IS close to Buccinidae (a whelkoid?) but
has indication of relationship also to Olividae, so is an
intermediate. A typical character of the family is a midwhorl spiral
groove, though I suspect that eventually grooveless taxa may be found
to be pseudolivids too.

Zemira, Pseudoliva, Sylvanocochlis, Macron & one other genus of rare
small shells I can't currently remember the name of belong here.

I suspect that Babyloniidae is very close.

A genus often placed with Pseudoliva is the problematic Melapium. It
lacks a groove, though this alone is of doubtful importance. It also
lacks an operculum, which again by itself is not really diagnostic.
However the large protoconch, taken with thedse other characters,
makes me think "not pseudolivid", and it is NOT an olivid either. It
could be a turbinellid (some of which lack an operc), say in
subfamily Strepsidurinae. The large animal has me wondering... could
it be an oddball volutid? Has anyone really studied this animal?
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
<[log in to unmask]>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

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