Dear Dan, When I collected a Pachychilus species in Palenque in 1988 I had also a big problem with identification. I identified this species as Pachichylus indiorum MORELET because the shell of this species is smooth and without any ribs. This is well-known mayan edible freshwater snail! With my best regards, Zoltán Erőss from Budapest >From: Leslie Allen <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Conchologists List <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Pachychilus glaphyrum? >Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 04:47:20 GMT > >Hi Dan >..Quite a nice shell to have!!! > >When Fred Thompson helped me to identify my Belize, Guatamala& Honduras >materials he labeled it as: >Pachychilus glaphrius (with the added "i" in the ending as shown) > >It is a fresh-water shell rather than a land shell. I do not know the >range of >it but it can specifically be found in the Mecal River. Hundreds of these >were >dug from the middens at Cahol Pech, which is a Mayan palacial site in San >Ignacio, Belize. The Mecal River runs through the edge of town, which is >located somewhat in the center of Belize (north to south), near the >Guatemalan >frontier. It is the Belize highlands, on the other side of the mountains >from >the coastal plain which often referred to as the (infamous) Mosquito Coast. > >Pachychilus glaphrius is often encrusted and looks somewhat like a large >Pacific Cerithid at first... but with its chestnut periostracum showing, at >second glance it reminds me of a Buccinid. > >Hope this was helpful if not amusing. >.. I sure miss those traveling and collecting days! >Leslie > >PS - Getting good literature on Mesoamerican land and freshwater Mollusca >has >been a bit of a daunting task for me... & I finally gave up. Seems for the >most part it is scattered through a dozen journals, a species or two at a >time, >over a hundred + years. There are a few expedition reports that I have >acquired but never a lot of content, (typically new species only >illustrated, >with other species only listed), and mainly never from a place where I >went... > >--------------------------------- >To all the exotic landsnail buffs, > >Today I received a package from a friend, with a very strange >operculated landsnail, labeled Pachychilus glaphyrum from Palenque, >Chiapas, Mexico. I have searched the internet with that name and come up >empty . Does anyone have any idea of a website where I might compare this >specimen. >Thank you in advance for any help. >Dan Yoshimoto > >Dan, Hiromi & Kuma Yoshimoto >1164 Vista Dr. >Eureka, California 95503-6018 U.S.A. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs >To leave this list, click on the following web link: >http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 >Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and >click leave the list. >---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zoltan Peter Erőss,1151 Budapest, Bem street 36. HUNGARY _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar - get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------