>  >(it is known that Cerithium in which the gonads are destroyed by
>cestode (tapeworm) parasitism grow much larger than normal, so
>either live longer or have excessive production of
>growth-hormones... or both).<
>
>Another possibility is that the energy that would normally be put
>into reproduction goes into growth instead.  Instead of producing a
>bunch of gametes, it produces an extra cm or whatever of growth.
>This wouls also explain the extra-large individuals sometimes found
>near the periphery of ranges, e.g., some Caribbean taxa in Bermuda
>that seem to be non-reproducing individuals carried in as larvae by
>the Gulf Stream.

Makes sense.

>On the Caribbean Eocene Campanile, I looked up Jung.  He estimates
>ca. 90 cm for his reconstructed specimen,

I suspect it's wishful thinking, trying to match the European species.

>and claims literature reports of ca. 1 m for the European one,
>though I do not know how precise the original source of those
>measurements might be (I just read Wallace on an orangutang specimen
>that shrunk 1 foot from the hunters' account to that of the boat
>captain and 2 more feet by the time it got measured in a museum.)
>Incidentally, there's trouble on the type of Campanile-the French
>Eocene and the extant Australian one were both included in the
>original description, and there are competing subsequent type
>designations and interpretations.

Nothing's simple...
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
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I want your sinistral gastropods!
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Opinions in this e-mail are my own, not those of my institution
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A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
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