> ---------- > From: Ross Mayhew[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: donderdag 14 januari 1999 18:54 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: But, seriously......(Sinistal-related) > > OK- we've all had our little laughs- i'm surprised Art didn't drag his > Flying Pigs into the melee! The suggestion was made that most of the > lefties were the same species, with a good deal of variation, but some > European cone spp were also sinistral, so that is not a total > explanation. A more pertinant question might be why the vast majority > of present-day spp in nearly all families are dextral- is there some > advantage to this state? If so, why are so many land-snails sinistral, > and why has the Triphoriidae family been so successful, if > left-handedness confers some sort of disadvantage? Further, is there > more diversity in "handedness" in other families in the fossil record, > and not just Conidae? Does natural selection seem to be playing the > predominant role here, or are we simply living in a period where > dextrality just happens to predominate? (or is there any way of > gathering evidence to support either circumstance, or is it likely to to > remain one of the many things we are unlikely to ever know??) > > Any Bona-fide info or speculations??, > > Ross > P.S. Would people stop picking on Helmut (at least in pubic, ie!). > After all, he is by his own admission, his own species... > I never heard of an European sinistral Conus, nor recent or fossil. May be you can give me a name or a refence on this subject. There is a sinistral Terebra in the Pliocene of the North Sea basin, Terebra inversa, which also extinct. M.C. Cadee, The Netherlands