Hola: A Powers jr.
 
You have the same problem as I: to understand how to classify shells; I
think a
lot of people has the same problem. I collect all kind of shells but, as
I live in
Venezuela, I am mostly concerned in Venezuelan shells; I have a very
small
collection and I am beginnig to study about shells. I am doing a list of
Venezuelan shells colecting the information and the pictures I have in
the
different books. I have stumbled in the same problems.
 
Classification is a matter of human opinion based  (lots of time) on
very scant
information; there are tens of thousands of species and only a handful
of authors;
lots of times authors does not agree about specimenes: they can say that
the two
are the same species, that they belong to two subespecies or that they
are from
different species; consequently there is not a list of species; of
course an
author can make a list based in his(her, I am not used to this)
knowlegment and
personal opinions, but then another author can make another and
different list
based also in his (excuse me ladies) opinions; the two lists are
different and the
two are valid; other people will select one list or the other to use it;
time and
more knowledge and the shift of opinions among the group of scholars
will change
the lists in the future. Then you are free to make your own list; if
other people
like it they will use it. You need to make your own list and the esasier
is to
select one among the different lists that exist.
 
But you need one to begin with; I am trying to do the best with the
Venezuelan
Littorinas now; I am scanning the pictures I have in the different books
and I am
reading and summarizing the writted material; when I finish I will look
again at the Neritidae
because this was the first group I studied and I am not sure of what I
have done with them; because I am learning I know more now than two
months ago when I worked in it. then I will send you the
list that I, myself, have created based in the different books I have.
 
It is funny (I will use forged names); one author says L. pedicelia is a
synonym
of L. grandilocuata and the other says L. grandilocuata is a synonym of
L.
pedicelia.; one author says L. grandipenis permisiva is in reality C.
permisiva
because such and such, and so on. But we need a list; but there is no
"the list";
feel free to make your list.
 
There are differents names of authors
because one
author described L. pedicelia and another author described L.
grandilocuata, and a third one says they are the same.
 
All the problems begin with Darwin; previously the species where small
islands in
a big sea and you can distinguish them easily; now they are only points
named by
man in a big land covered by fog; the ridges are the today species and
all the
other mass, the valleys and rocks beneath the surface are the yesterday
species.
If you see only some of the peaks, it is difficult to know whether they
are in the
same ridge.
 
It is the problem of the human being: he wants to know all but it will
never
happen; only god (if it exists) knows all; I am not god, I am not going
to know
all.
 
During eons the life lived unconcerned about classification and then
here is the human being; they are not satisfied with only to live, they
need to understand; and one way to understand things is to classify
things; but our classification is ours, for our use; life don't worry
about our clessification: life lives. Then don4t try to squeeze life in
the classification; the classification must adapt to life.
 
I will write this to Conch-l because I want to see this subject
(classification) discussed.
 
Chao friends and excuse me so many words.
Emilio
 
APowersjr escribis:
 
>  In my quest to attain the Neritidae-family and by the way thanks to some real
>  nice folks in Conch land I now have 41 different. I have run into the problem
> of  understanding subspecies and synonyms.