Dear James,

You didn't say whether the Cancellaryia mercadoi was living.

As far as is known, none of the cancellations HAS an operculum (in LIFE;
anthropogenic manipulations may occur post mortem).  Its lack is apparently a
familial characteristic.  Beu and Maxwell (1987) reviewed this character in a
fine monograph in which some rather breath-taking reassignments of higher taxa
were put forth.

Ref.: Beu, A. G. and P. A. Maxwell, 1987.  A revision of the fossil and living
gastropods related to Plesiotriton Fischer, 1884 (family Cancellariidae,
subfamily Plesiotritoninae n. subfam.). New  Zeal. Geol. Surv. Paleont. Bull.
54: 1-140.

Harry


At 12:16 AM 3/23/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear all,
>I have an interesting question that I hope someone on here can answer.
>Yesterday, as I was browsing the net, I came across a photo of
>Cancellaria
>mercadoi. It was a typical specimen of the species, but in the aperture
>was
>something not so typical: an operculum. The Compedium says none of the
>Cancellariidae
>have opercs. Can anyone help relieve me of this confusion? Is it true
>that none have percs,
>or do some of them do?
>
>Regards,
>James

Harry G. Lee
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