Right you are, Kurt.
If you go to
http://eusmilia.geology.uiowa.edu
and click on Identification Keys, then you can easily find the gastropod key
from there, and it is available for public use (without the photos, alas).
Our friend José Leal posted a couple of identification guides as pdf files
on the Web:
http://www.shellmuseum.org/BivalvesLeal.pdf
http://www.shellmuseum.org/GastropodsLeal.pdf
These include line drawings, which as we all know can be even better than
photos for identification.
For those who are starting out, I recommend R. T. Abbott's "Seashells of
North America", an inexpensive Golden Field Guide intended for laymen. The
descriptions are often differential (that is, they tell how to distinguish
species from similar species) and the illustratios are paintings all done by
one person, George F. Sandström, who deserves a lot of credit for the book's
success. Abbott's other books are all useful, especially the monumental
"American Seashells" (second edition), but they tend to be illustrated by
photographs that are often too small and too fuzzy for me to tell whether a
bivalve species has teeth, let alone what the teeth look like. I often wish
that he had had access to a digital camera.
Of course, the Golden Field Guide does not include any but the most common
species, and focuses on species that can be collected on or near the shore.
It also doesn't include all of the abundant small species (the omission of
Mulinia lateralis being particularly odd), nor the larger species that are
abundant locally (such as Agripoma texasiana, which commonly turns up on
beaches on Dauphin Island, Alabama, and which Doug Shelton mentioned in a
recent email).
Speaking of Doug Shelton, he was good enough to post his list of Alabama
molluscan species on the Web, courtesy of Deborah Wills, and I find this to
be a very useful authority to point out the most likely possibilities for
specimens that I collect:
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~dwills/marine/alamarsp.html
But this is a cooler shore than you'll find on the west coast of Florida,
which probably has a much greater diversity of species.
If you can find a copy, the following reference will be extremely useful, as
it focuses on the area of interest:
Perry, Louise M., and Schwengel, Jeanne S., 1955, Marine shells of the
western coast of Florida: Ithaca, New York, Paleontological Research
Institution, 318 p., 55 pl.
This work is a revision of Perry's 1940 book, "the first serious attempt to
monograph a small regional area south of the State of New York." The
black-and-white photographs are relatively sharp and well reproduced, though
they generally show only one side of a shell. The quality of descriptions
ranges broadly but is often insightful. The language is technical but should
not faze anyone with a good glossary at hand.
I am among those who are interested in other guides to Gulf of Mexico
species, and those from the Carolinian faunal province generally. Not just
mollusks, either. I want plants, fungi, spiders, butterflies, crabs,
barnacles! on the Web -- on paper -- in murals -- stained glass windows --
more, more, I'm still not satisfied!
Enjoy!
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama
Yuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists of America List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Kurt Auffenberg
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 9:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: assistance requested
Ooops...Mr. McKenna's email is [log in to unmask]
But copy me...maybe the entire list....I'm sure there are others that would
like to see a key of Gulf coast shells....
K
At 09:59 AM 10/1/04 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear All:
>
>Does anyone know of any online identification keys out there for this
>poor soul....(see below)......?
>
>"I teach HS bio in New York City. I am trying to use gastropod shells
>I purchased in Tarpon Springs for practicing keys with a senior class.
>I found a site
>(http://eusmilia.geology.uiowa.edu/cgi-bin/flgastro/polyclav?../pollycl
>ave/flga)that
>features images and data for keying gulf coast gastropods for the
>Tampa Bay region (almost perfect!). Unfortunately, I cannot access the
>site. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for your time."
>
>Thanks,
>
>Kurtles
>
>
>Mr. Kurt Auffenberg
>Operations Coordinator
>Exhibits & Public Programs
>University of Florida
>Hull Road & SW 34th Street
>Powell Hall, P.O. Box 112710
>Gainesville, Florida 32611-2710
>
>Telephone: 352-846-2000, ext. 253
>Fax: 352-846-0253
>
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>[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
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>----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Kurt Auffenberg
Operations Coordinator
Exhibits & Public Programs
University of Florida
Hull Road & SW 34th Street
Powell Hall, P.O. Box 112710
Gainesville, Florida 32611-2710
Telephone: 352-846-2000, ext. 253
Fax: 352-846-0253
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