> ---------- > From: Andrew K. > Rindsberg[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: maandag 2 november 1998 16:18 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: How many species? - the REAL answer! > > Kurt Auffenberg writes, > "Let's back the truck up a little. Although the Compendium of Land shells > by Tucker Abbott is very useful for the collector and professional alike, > it is by no means a checklist of the land snails of the world. I assume > this is the reference referred to by Andrew Rindsberg. It only > illustrates > a very small fraction of the known fauna, gives an adequate bibliography > and is riddled with errors (through no fault of Tucker's. It's just the > nature of the beast . . . publishing a book is Hell, publishing a book on > a > confusing group is a bigger Hell). There is no checklist of the land > snails of the world, but there are several good people out there putting > together pieces of the puzzle." > > Oops. Sorry to get folks excited about this. Mea culpa! I dashed that one > off without checking references first. > > Incidentally, I forgot to mention one of the best sources of information > for compiling master lists of species: monographs of whole families. The > authors tend to aim for completeness, and winnow out synonyms. Of course, > the work can never be finished. > > Gary Rosenberg tells us that more than 20,000 molluscan species have been > named in the past 20 years, showing that anyone who wants a complete > collection would have to acquire species at the rate of 3 or so every day. > It would be a major task just to acquire all of the literature containing > new descriptions, let alone specimens, even if they were available. > Clearly, nature has a few surprises still to spring on us. > > He also stated that the Zoological Record won't do our work for us. Well, > before anyone (like Sylvia Edwards) makes plans to do the job by teamwork, > what other large lists of molluscan taxa, published or unpublished, are > available? And when an author plans a monograph of a whole family, how do > you make sure your list of species is complete? (No, me buckos, I am NOT > volunteering! I am already heavily engaged in compiling a complete list of > trace-fossil taxa, with collaborator Alfred Uchman. I'll be glad to cheer > you on, however.) > > Thanks for the corrections. > > Andrew K. Rindsberg > Geological Survey of Alabama > > Visit the site of G. Poppe, he has an (incomplete) list of recent marine > species. This list is a good start. But it will become a list of names, > not of species, fot there ara always taxanomic propblems in such a list. > Martin Cadee, Leiden, The Netherlands >