Dear Henk,

I have three lots assigned to I. brasiliana (Lamarck, 1818):

Dade Co., Florida (2) [leg. mihi]
San Juan Puerto Rico (2) [leg. mihi]
Salvador, Bahia, Brasil (3) [leg C. Voss]

The pallial sinuses are essentially the same in all seven shells.

The two smaller shells in the Brasilian lot (45 and 52 mm.) are more tumid and
evenly trigonal than any of the others.  The largest of that Brasilian lot (62
mm.) has a distinct sulcus in front of the posterior radial angulation and is
indistinguishable from a Puerto Rican shell.

I am unable to see any dichotomy among these few specimens.

Hope this helps,
Harry


At 09:35 AM 9/4/00 +0200, you wrote:
>
> Dear Conch-L members,
> I have just tried to revise the Iphigenia samples (Fam. Donacidae) present in
> the collection of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but stumbled upon a
> problem concerning the single species recognized as living in the Western
> Atlantic and Caribbean: Iphigenia brasiliana (Lamarck, 1818). Typical
> specimens from Brazil have a rather broad posterior pallial sinus with a
> blunt tip, while in specimens from the Caribbean the pallial sinus is much
> more slender and more pointed. There are also differences in shell form. A
> good figure of the latter is given in Warmke & Abbott, 1962: plt. 42, fig. M.
> Typical I. brasiliana is illustrated in the works by Abbott & Dance and Rios.
> Can any Conch-L member put a name on the Caribbean species? Many thanks in
> advance.
>
> Henk K. Mienis
> Curator National Mollusc Collection
> Dept. Evolution, Systematics & Ecology
> Hebrew University of Jerusalem
> IL-91904 Jerusalem, Israel
>
> E-mail: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask] &
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]



Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA   904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm

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