Ross,

OH! What was I reading? For some reason I didn't connect
"our species" with US, but with some other limpet or something
...Duh! You totally confused me.

Cheers,

Peter


At 01:11 AM 9/8/01 +0000, you wrote:
>Peter;
>        "Our" species, last time i checked, was Homo sapiens L. - the usual
>suspect in most recent extinctions!
>
>Cheers,
>Ross.
>          Peter Egerton wrote
>
>Ross,
>
>Just a question: what do you mean by "our species" -A. testudinalis on
>the east coast or L. alveus on the Pacific?
>
>Peter
>
>At 01:43 AM 9/7/01 +0000, you wrote:
>>Dear George;
>>        I thought it had been established that alveus Conrad was a valid
>>species, and not just a form.  With DNA, surely this is an easy thing to
>>establish?  At any rate, it is almost certainly extinct (or expatriated,
>>if the species can be confirmed for the Pacific Coast) in the Atlantic.
>>The populations i referred to are specialized individuals of
>>testudinalis Muller, that have colonized Zostera in at least a couple of
>>localities in Nova Scotia, and i have heard it also occurs in Maine.  I
>>don't think these deserve a forma name, and most certainly they are not
>>alveus: they appear to simply be testudinalis's beginning adaptation to
>>a niche rich in food: the population density is quite low so far, so
>>they are not all that successful at this early date after the niche was
>>vacated by the competition - give them a few hundred years and i think
>>you'll have a legitimate form here, with much higher population
>>densities utilizing the under-exploited food source much better.
>>
>>        It is interesting to note that the demise of the Atlantic alveus
>seems
>>to have had little or nothing to do with our species! I don't know if
>>this can be considered good or bad....
>>
>>-Ross.
>
>
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Peter Egerton, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Collector of worldwide Mollusca, lifetime student
of zoology and computers.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Step into my website:
http://www.intergate.ca/personal/seashell/index.html
("Peter's Seashells" includes "Seashells of British Columbia",
        links and my resume)
        -Links to add, remove, alter?  Just ask!
        -Suggestions always welcome :-)
        -This is an on-going project...

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