aug 2007
Not surprised, but still...
18-08-2007 14:51
After having pinpointed
all exact (or at least specific and traceable)
localities in Ecuador with the help of the GNS
databse and Google Earth, I ended up with 62
localities. Of course, this is not a complete survey
and possibly many will be added later, but I was
curious enough to do a first analysis. It is very
clear that the surrounding of Quito is well-sampled:
17 of the 62 localities are found in the province of
Pichincha. So far, Los Ríos, Bolívar, Esmeraldas and
Sucumbios provinces are not represented at all.
A beginning
17-08-2007 20:44
Today I finished the
first version of the catalogue. It is only rough and
far from complete, only the Bulimulinae are treated.
The current version can be found under Current topics
> Colombia (or follow this link). I would like to explore the
possibility to have photographs of type material,
as far as it hasn't been recently (re)figured, but
that may prove a bridge too far. The next steps
will be to sort out the mainland localities and
their altitude, to see if these can be linked to
the ecoregions and to do some analysis on
distribution patterns.
Ecoregions in Ecuador (Source:
WWF)
Ecoregions in Ecuador (Source:
WWF)
Having fun as a donkey
12-08-2007 21:54
When I was searching
for a title for this entry, I reminded the work done
over the past days and summarized it as "koeliewerk",
which is translated as (fig.) donkeywork. So I have been
working as a donkey, but it was fun to do and I
became a little fanatical on the way.
What have I be doing, you might wonder, that brought me in this mood? Actually I started compiling a checklist of the Orthalicinae from Ecuador. This was inspired by two persons. First, Francisco Borrero with his very good checklist of Colombia; still a work in progress, but even so. The second person is Giovanni Cuno, an Ecuadorian student who is currently a guest at home.
I'm surprised what could be achieved within nearly two days of hard work. The Bulimulinae are well under way, except for the genus Drymaeus. There are some questions about species from the Galápagos, that I've emailed to Christine Parent, but otherwise I'm quite satisfied with the result.
When searching for data from museum collectiosn that have been made available via a database, it struck me that - speaking in general - the quality is rather poor. I know it is a Herculean task, but still I was somewhat disappointed about the results of my queries. On the way I happened to find, however, a nice overview of museum collections with contact data and the status of their collection; the links that follows lists the collections where Neotropical molluscs are housed (http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/main/collections/mollusk_links/museumlist.html#SA). It's not complete, e.g. the collection of Naturalis is not mentioned and updated till September 2000, but at least it is a start.
What have I be doing, you might wonder, that brought me in this mood? Actually I started compiling a checklist of the Orthalicinae from Ecuador. This was inspired by two persons. First, Francisco Borrero with his very good checklist of Colombia; still a work in progress, but even so. The second person is Giovanni Cuno, an Ecuadorian student who is currently a guest at home.
I'm surprised what could be achieved within nearly two days of hard work. The Bulimulinae are well under way, except for the genus Drymaeus. There are some questions about species from the Galápagos, that I've emailed to Christine Parent, but otherwise I'm quite satisfied with the result.
When searching for data from museum collectiosn that have been made available via a database, it struck me that - speaking in general - the quality is rather poor. I know it is a Herculean task, but still I was somewhat disappointed about the results of my queries. On the way I happened to find, however, a nice overview of museum collections with contact data and the status of their collection; the links that follows lists the collections where Neotropical molluscs are housed (http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/main/collections/mollusk_links/museumlist.html#SA). It's not complete, e.g. the collection of Naturalis is not mentioned and updated till September 2000, but at least it is a start.
In the pressure cooker again
09-08-2007 21:40
Holidays are over and
normal work has begun, so there is little time left
when all the household chores and social activities
have been done. However, I managed to visit Naturalis
twice this week. The first time was to check the
collection for Succineidae to be able to answer a
request from Brazil. The second time was to show a
visitor from Ecuador around.
Mentioning Ecuador, I had an exchange of various emails with the coordinator of Los Cedros. It is really a very big cloud forest, but he assured me that the trails within the Reserve are good, even during the rainy season. Still my guess is that snails are not abundant and maybe hard to find, but that the fauna could be very interesting.
Mentioning Ecuador, I had an exchange of various emails with the coordinator of Los Cedros. It is really a very big cloud forest, but he assured me that the trails within the Reserve are good, even during the rainy season. Still my guess is that snails are not abundant and maybe hard to find, but that the fauna could be very interesting.
Country catalogues
03-08-2007 17:30
The recent work of
Simone provoked me to inventarize the inventories of
land snails in the Neotropical realm. Necessary
incomplete, but a starting point for further
addition, I compile here all known catalogues and
literature dealing with families of the different
countries. From North to South and West to East:
Mexico - To my knowledge there is no overview of whole Mexico, although I know that Fred Thompson is currently compiling a checklist. There is, however, the work of Smith et al. (1990), treating the land molluscs of Baja California.
Belize - Not published.
Guatemala - Not published.
Nicaragua - There is no complete checklist, but a partial overview was presented by Perez & Lopez (1994).
Costa Rica - For some years there was the excellent work in progress of the InBio database, but someone at the WCM told me that it is no longer online.
Panama - Not published.
Cuba - As far as I know there is no complete overview; the Urocoptidae have been listed by Jaume & De la Torre (1976), the Camaenidae by Perez & Espinoza (1994) and the Annulariidae by Waters (2006). The latter covers also the rest of the Caribbean for this family.
Jamaica - Gary Rosenberg and his team are investigating the Jamaican land snail fauna. A status report was published in 2005.
Hispaniola - Not published. I do have, however, an unpublished manuscript compiled by Ad Hovestadt.
Puerto Rico - As far as I know, only the land molluscs of Mona Island have been catalogued (Thompson, 1987).
Lesser Antilles - Partially known, e.g. de Jong & Kristensen (1968) list the land molluscs of Curacao.
Colombia - Only as an unpublished manuscript, by Francisco Borrero, while a second manuscript was compiled by Edgar Linares and Mónica Vera.
Ecuador - Not published.
Peru - Rina Ramirez is for many years an active malacologist and compiled, together with others, a list of species (Ramirez et al., 2003).
Chile - Stuardo & Vega (1985) published a synopsis on the land molluscs.
Venezuela - The work of Tello (1975) is a good start but needs a revision.
Guiana - Not published.
Surinam - Fragmentary known, although it may be expected that the malacofauna will resemble those of French Guyana.
French Guyana - Tillier (1980) made an extensive overview of the land molluscs.
Brazil - The excellent work of Simone (2006) is the landmark for non-marine Mollusca from this large country.
Bolivia - A list was published by Zischka (1953), but is clearly needing an update.
Paraguay - A preliminar list was published by Quintana in 1982. As far as I know, nothing has been added since.
Argentina - There is a checklist by Fernandez (1973), which I have not been able to locate in a Dutch library.
Uruguay - Santos (1998) published a list of land molluscs.
References:
Fernandez, D. (1973). Catalógo de la malacofauna terrestre Argentina. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. La Plata: Provincia de Buenos Aires Press. 197 pp.
Jaume, M. L. & A. de la Torre (1976). Los Urocoptidae de Cuba (Mollusca, Pulmonata). Ciencias Biol. 53: 1-122.
Jong, K. M. de & I. Kristensen (1968). Gegevens over de mollusken van Curaçao uitgezonderd de marine gastropoden. Correspondentieblad van de Nederlandse Malacologische Vereniging Supplement 1968: 1-45.
Perez, A. M. & J. Espinoza (1994). Catalogo, claves y bibliografia de la familia Camaenidae (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora) en Cuba. Rev. Biol. Trop. 41(3A): 667-681.
Perez, A. M. & S.J. de la Fuente Lopez (1994). Nouvos registros para la fauna malacologica terrestre y fluviatil de Nicaragua. Rev. Biol. Trop. 41(3B): 913-915.
Quintana, M. G. (1982). Catalogo preliminar de la malacofauna del Paraguay. Rev. Mus. Argentino Cienc. Nat., n.s, Zool. 11: 61-158.
Ramirez, R., C. Paredes & J. Arenas (2003). Moluscos del Peru. Rev. Biol. Trop, 51 (suppl. 3): 225-284.
Rosenberg, G. & I.V. Muratov (2005). Status report on the terrestrial Mollusca of Jamaica. Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. 155: 117-161.
Santos, O. (1998). Ensayo de lista sistemática de los caracoles terrestres en el Uruguay. Com. Soc. Malac. Urug, 8 (76-77): 137-144.
Simone, L.R.L., 2006. Land and freshwater molluscs of Brazil. Editoria Gráfica Bernardi / FAPESP, Sao Paulo: 1-390.
Smith, A. G., W.B. Miller, C.C. Christensen & B. Roth (1990). Land Mollusca of Baja California, Mexico. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 47(4): 95-158.
Stuardo, J. & R. Vega (1985). Synopsis of the land Mollusca of Chile, with remarks on distribution. Studies Neotrop. Fauna Environm. 20 (3): 125-146.
Tello, J. (1975). Catalogo de la fauna Venezolana. VIII. Mollusca. Caracas: 1-599.
Thompson, F. G. (1987). A review of the land snails of Mona Island, West Indies. Bulletin Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 31(2): 69-106.
Tillier, S. (1980). Gasteropodes terrestres et fluviatiles de Guyane francaise. Mem.Museum Nat. Hist. Naturelle, Serie A, Zoologie 118: 1-189.
Watters, G. T. (2006). The Caribbean land snail family Annulariidae: a revision of the higher taxa and a catalog of the species. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden: 1-557.
Zischka, R. (1953). Catalogo de las conchas y caracoles bolivianos. Folia Universitaria 1953: 69-85.
Mexico - To my knowledge there is no overview of whole Mexico, although I know that Fred Thompson is currently compiling a checklist. There is, however, the work of Smith et al. (1990), treating the land molluscs of Baja California.
Belize - Not published.
Guatemala - Not published.
Nicaragua - There is no complete checklist, but a partial overview was presented by Perez & Lopez (1994).
Costa Rica - For some years there was the excellent work in progress of the InBio database, but someone at the WCM told me that it is no longer online.
Panama - Not published.
Cuba - As far as I know there is no complete overview; the Urocoptidae have been listed by Jaume & De la Torre (1976), the Camaenidae by Perez & Espinoza (1994) and the Annulariidae by Waters (2006). The latter covers also the rest of the Caribbean for this family.
Jamaica - Gary Rosenberg and his team are investigating the Jamaican land snail fauna. A status report was published in 2005.
Hispaniola - Not published. I do have, however, an unpublished manuscript compiled by Ad Hovestadt.
Puerto Rico - As far as I know, only the land molluscs of Mona Island have been catalogued (Thompson, 1987).
Lesser Antilles - Partially known, e.g. de Jong & Kristensen (1968) list the land molluscs of Curacao.
Colombia - Only as an unpublished manuscript, by Francisco Borrero, while a second manuscript was compiled by Edgar Linares and Mónica Vera.
Ecuador - Not published.
Peru - Rina Ramirez is for many years an active malacologist and compiled, together with others, a list of species (Ramirez et al., 2003).
Chile - Stuardo & Vega (1985) published a synopsis on the land molluscs.
Venezuela - The work of Tello (1975) is a good start but needs a revision.
Guiana - Not published.
Surinam - Fragmentary known, although it may be expected that the malacofauna will resemble those of French Guyana.
French Guyana - Tillier (1980) made an extensive overview of the land molluscs.
Brazil - The excellent work of Simone (2006) is the landmark for non-marine Mollusca from this large country.
Bolivia - A list was published by Zischka (1953), but is clearly needing an update.
Paraguay - A preliminar list was published by Quintana in 1982. As far as I know, nothing has been added since.
Argentina - There is a checklist by Fernandez (1973), which I have not been able to locate in a Dutch library.
Uruguay - Santos (1998) published a list of land molluscs.
References:
Fernandez, D. (1973). Catalógo de la malacofauna terrestre Argentina. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. La Plata: Provincia de Buenos Aires Press. 197 pp.
Jaume, M. L. & A. de la Torre (1976). Los Urocoptidae de Cuba (Mollusca, Pulmonata). Ciencias Biol. 53: 1-122.
Jong, K. M. de & I. Kristensen (1968). Gegevens over de mollusken van Curaçao uitgezonderd de marine gastropoden. Correspondentieblad van de Nederlandse Malacologische Vereniging Supplement 1968: 1-45.
Perez, A. M. & J. Espinoza (1994). Catalogo, claves y bibliografia de la familia Camaenidae (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora) en Cuba. Rev. Biol. Trop. 41(3A): 667-681.
Perez, A. M. & S.J. de la Fuente Lopez (1994). Nouvos registros para la fauna malacologica terrestre y fluviatil de Nicaragua. Rev. Biol. Trop. 41(3B): 913-915.
Quintana, M. G. (1982). Catalogo preliminar de la malacofauna del Paraguay. Rev. Mus. Argentino Cienc. Nat., n.s, Zool. 11: 61-158.
Ramirez, R., C. Paredes & J. Arenas (2003). Moluscos del Peru. Rev. Biol. Trop, 51 (suppl. 3): 225-284.
Rosenberg, G. & I.V. Muratov (2005). Status report on the terrestrial Mollusca of Jamaica. Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. 155: 117-161.
Santos, O. (1998). Ensayo de lista sistemática de los caracoles terrestres en el Uruguay. Com. Soc. Malac. Urug, 8 (76-77): 137-144.
Simone, L.R.L., 2006. Land and freshwater molluscs of Brazil. Editoria Gráfica Bernardi / FAPESP, Sao Paulo: 1-390.
Smith, A. G., W.B. Miller, C.C. Christensen & B. Roth (1990). Land Mollusca of Baja California, Mexico. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 47(4): 95-158.
Stuardo, J. & R. Vega (1985). Synopsis of the land Mollusca of Chile, with remarks on distribution. Studies Neotrop. Fauna Environm. 20 (3): 125-146.
Tello, J. (1975). Catalogo de la fauna Venezolana. VIII. Mollusca. Caracas: 1-599.
Thompson, F. G. (1987). A review of the land snails of Mona Island, West Indies. Bulletin Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 31(2): 69-106.
Tillier, S. (1980). Gasteropodes terrestres et fluviatiles de Guyane francaise. Mem.Museum Nat. Hist. Naturelle, Serie A, Zoologie 118: 1-189.
Watters, G. T. (2006). The Caribbean land snail family Annulariidae: a revision of the higher taxa and a catalog of the species. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden: 1-557.
Zischka, R. (1953). Catalogo de las conchas y caracoles bolivianos. Folia Universitaria 1953: 69-85.