Oliva edwardsi was described by Axel Olsson in 1967, in a Paleontological
Research Institute (PRI) report entitled: "Some Tertiary Mollusks from
South Florida and the Caribbean", plate 6, figure 7.  The publication is
not part of the regular Bulletins of Paleontology from PRI, it is a
separate "special" publication.

Oliva edwardsi's type locality is the "old" Belle Glade Pit in Florida in
what was called "Unit A" which I believe was renamed the Bermont Formation
later.  The type is in the USNM.  The "i" ending for the species is a
little odd since it was named after a female - retired Lt. Colonel Corrine
Edwards.  There have been some various rumors as to why Olsson did that -
some sort of a joke - he obviously knew his taxonomy inside out.

Petuch, in his 1994 book entitled "Atlas of Florida Fossil Shells", in the
caption for Plate 81 K, L, the shell was renamed to Oliva edwardsae, in
honor of Corrine Edward's gender.

The most common characteristic is a dark blue/gray to black color in the
Bermont formation.  It looks like a short, low spired Oliva sayana.
Validity, I am not sure, but the early publication date sure makes it a
likely contender for synonymy with other later fossil Olives named by
Petuch.  Oliva edwardsae does not exist in the recent, other than specimens
that might was up after storms from offshore Florida submerged Pleistocene
beds.

Hope this helps.

Here is a conversation from Conch=l from last June on Oliva edwardsae. I
thought since we were having this ending discussion again I would re post it.
      Carole



Paul
At 09:15 PM 7/5/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Can anyone tell me about Oliva edwardsae Olsson, 1967 from SE Florida? It
>is not in Petuch & Sargent.
>Is is a color form of sayana?
>
>Thanks much
>
>
>John Wolff