>>So the question goes now to Gary or Kurt: What area has, or ever had, the
>greatest diversity of mollusks?
>
>I'd guess the Philippines. Lots of islands, extremely high marine diversity
>and high endemism among land snails. I've heard estimates of 10,000 living
>species, although the land snails are going extinct fast.
>
>Gary
>
 
For freshwater mussels, the nexus was Mussel [Muscle] Shoals on the
Tenneessee River and The Falls of the Ohio on the Ohio River. Both may have
had nearly 80 species in one place. More than Australia and Europe combined.
Both faunas were largely destroyed by impoundment, although The Falls exists
as a 'side cut' to the Ohio River now.
 
To ramble on a bit more, there has been some controversy over whether the
correct name is Mussel or Muscle Shoals. To me it's a moot point. I have
documents from the 1600's referring to "salt water muscles," so apparently
the two words were interchangeable at some point.
 
*  G Thomas Watters               *
*  Ohio Biological Survey &       *
*  Aquatic Ecology Laboratory     *
*  Ohio State University          *
*  1315 Kinnear Rd.               *
*  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
 
"A paranoid is a man who knows a little of what's going on" - William Burroughs