>Hello Again!
>
>I received a gorgeous Tibia martinii as a Christmas present.
>However, I have never seen anything like it before - the whole shell
>is translucent.  But, the columellar structure is visible most of
>the way up in the shell; there are even traces of the animal still
>present in the upper whorls.  Would the translucency indicate that
>the shell is immature?  Is it common?  (I am not that familiar with
>the Tibias).
>
>Thanks,
>Linda

Hi Linda

You may get a reply from Gijs Kronenberg correcting the
generic/familial placement of "T" martinii. I can't find my
correspondence with him due to Eudora muckups which have lost me
access to many older mailboxes (every time I upgrade versions, the
old mailboxes and address books become unusable).

The species is very thinwalled... lay it on a piece of paper and you
ca read through the shell, looking into the aperture. Don't bump or
drop it!

They are not uncommon, but that certainly doesn't reduce the beauty!

Tibias and other tibiiform shells (most "Tibia" apparently do not
belong there) are generally very solid shells.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<[log in to unmask]>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

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