Hello All. I realize by its very nature the isolation of the Hawaiian island chain is likely to have less genetic diversity than organism populations closer to the middle of population centers (i.e. the western Pacific for many mollusks). Also, because the islands are 'fairly young' potentially more of the populations there resulted from founders effect and have inherently less genetic diversity. What I'm interested in speculating upon is why, specifically it seems to me, the Cypraea have so many species in Hawaii that are huge (C. tigris, C. vitellus, C. maculifera for example) and most other mollusks in Hawaii that have large Indo-Pacific ranges are not similarly affected by this selection process. Is it the niches that are available (i.e. large volcanic boulders), the nature of the predation, or some other factor? Perhaps something odd like the veliger stage of a larger Cypraea stays platonic longer and thus they had a better chance to populate this remote island chain? Just wondering. Thanks. Doug ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------