If we are going to talk about landshells, and to accept the definition
of Helmut's mother, I think we may have to work a bit harder defining
the size limits of microshells. Sculpture of the Cuban operculate group,
the Annulariidae, if viewed with magnification, is quite enough to drive
us all into collecting landshells! Some of them are over the cut-off 10
mm, but their sculpture cannot be detected by the naked eyes of most of
us!

In March 1988, Rich Goldberg did an amazing photo for the cover of
American Conchologist, two views of a Blaesospira echinus (Pfeiffer,
1864) from sheer limestone cliffs in Vinales Province, Cuba. They are
astonishing. (Perhaps someone can post a photo of one. Those who have
Abbott's Compendium of Landshells can look on p. 54.) This shell is 7
mm. It grows to 10 mm according to Abbott. It is a lacy open coiled
descending spiral with a lamellate sculpture that is adorned with rows
of tiny hollow spines, 4 per row, and it comes complete with tiny
multispiral operc. A veritable little hedgehog!  And it classes fully as
a microshell. But then there's Xenopoma hystris (Pfeiffer, 1861),
Annularia lincina (L., 1758) 16 mm; A. fimbriatula (Sowerby, 1825) 16
mm; Abbottella moreletiana (Crosse, 1873) 12 mm; and well, you see what
I mean? And among the operculates....some of the Urocoptidae, though up
to an inch in length, are extremely tall and narrow and are elegantly
and intricately sculptured. (See back cover of the same March 1988 issue
of American Conchologist.)

Little or none of the sculpture of these 10+ mm shells would be
appreciated without at least a hand lens. Perhaps we should be talking
both microshells and microsculpture? Many larger shells have amazing
microsculpture, including, notably, the pectens and coralliophilids.
Without having viewed these hidden landscapes, we may not really have
LOOKED at the shells. A lot of the reason for our mutual passion for
shells is their wonderful shapes and colors. But their sculpture can be
just as magnificent. Collectors of micros know this.

Lynn Scheu
Louisville, KY
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Helmut Nisters wrote:
>
> Dear Conchlers,
>
> There are a lot of explanations for that what microshells are.
> I'll give you one of my mother. Microshells are shells, which you
> hardly can discover with free eyes. On the other hand you need
> a microscope or a lens to see their nice structure. There are
> as well inlandshells and seashells or also some bivalves, which
> are really micros. So I'll say up to 5 mm, the other are just giants.
> Look at some Skeneidae or Cingulopsidae from the Mediterranean.
> Some Hydrobiidae for freshwater samples eg.
> with best shelling greetings
> Helmut from Innsbruck
>
> Helmut Nisters
> Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
> A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
> phone and fax: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> url: www.netwing.at/nisters/
>
> or
>
> Natural History Department of the
> Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
> malacological collection
> Feldstr. 11a
> A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
> phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86-37