Sunday     March 7, 1999    02:06 PM
 
Dear All,
 
Studying the Genus Oliva and trying to classify them
I've found a series of problems. Surely the same problems
which other people meet collecting or studing other
Families. Very often it's not possible to arrive to one
correct identification and that is very frustrating.
This difficulty is much more evident in that species
which have an high geographical variability as the Olives.
As Thomas wrote ( and I fully agree with him ) only the
analisys of DNA perhaps will make clarity. But a very
big work will be required to attain that aim and many
years will must pass before all the mollusks will be
correctly classified...and in the meantime I don't know
what to write on the labels of many Olives which I own.
The strange fact is that I'm able to distinguish the
specimens from different populations but I don't know
if they are two separate species or subspecies or simply
local form of the same specie. And probably, at this time,
no one is able to do it.
If I look a specimen of Oliva spicata I'm able to say if the
shell come from Panama or from Gulf of California bucause
the spicata from Panama are quite different from the spicata
from Gulf of California but...are they really the same specie ?
I've seen the same shell to change its name several time
and probably the last one will not be the last.
Now, my idea is why we cannot use a code to indicate a
type of shell with well definite morphological feature and from
a well definite typical locality ?
This way to operate is already used by tropical-fish dealers
which sell fishes (not yet classified or in doubt) for aquaria.
So that I may call  " 25-110.MX.01.OL " the form of Oliva
spicata which lives on Espiritu Santo Is.(Mexico) waiting for
someone tell us what it surely is.
The first two numbers might be the latitude and longitude, the
two letters the Country (MX, Mexico), the second two number
might indicate the population and the last two letters the
genus (OL, Oliva).
Are you now thinking I'm crazy ?? Perhaps I am, but this
code would be very helpfull because I might exchange opinion
with other collectors, or dealers or specialists and to be sure
that we are saying about the same shell !!
Several time I placed on order to a dealer and I received a
different thing because we gave the same name to two
different shells.
 
I'm waiting for your insults...ok, ok mine is only an idea...sorry.
Regards, Maurizio.
 
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       Maurizio A. Perini
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