Hi all My primary interest has always been fossil shells and for the past couple of years, I have been trying to identify and cross reference my large Upper Pliocene collection from Florida (Tamiami/Pinecrest/Jackson Bluff Fms.), North Carolina (Duplin and Yorktown Fms.) and Virgina (Yorktown). This is nothing new as Lyle Campbell compilied species list correlating the Plio-Pleistocene faunas from the Eastern U.S. but I wanted to do the same to my collection in addition to updating to modern generic nomenclature. This has been complicated by my desire to ignore much of the recent literature on the Florida Pliocene by using classic references such as Mansfield, Dall, Olsson and Harbinson, Campbell's VA Yorktown publication and others. A problem that I have come across is the Florida Pliocene Cypraea. In my collection, I only recognize the subspecies of Siphocypraea carolinensis shown in Olsson & Petit, 1968. There are those shells, however that are found with juvenile shell characteristics which Petuch in a peer reviewed paper called Calusacypraea. My gut feeling is that these shells are variations of Siphocypraea carolinensis floridana as I have found individuals with interemediate characteristics, but the differences at each end of the spectrum are quite extreme. My question is, what is the consensus as to the validity of Calusacypraea and its species as described by Petuch? Do modern Cypraea of any species exibit similar neotenic characteristics and variation? Thanks Mike ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------