Marine molluscs. Part 1. Amphineura, archaeogastropoda & pulmonata

Abstract

The creation of New Zealand's first marine reserve, between Cape Rodney and Okakari Point, on the eastern coast of Northland, near Leigh, has been a stimulus to review and collate all of the known information on a number of animal groups. The marine molluscs constitute a large group which will be covered in 4 volumes. In this, the first volume, the more primitive molluscs, nearly all grazers, are considered. These are the Amphineura (chitons), the Archaeogastropoda (limpets, topshells, turbanshells, nerites and allies), and the marine Pulmonata (3 limpets, the small earshells, Amphibola the mud snail, and a strangely isolated pulmonate slug, Onahidella). Shells have long captivated man's interest with their beauty of form and decoration and have been the subject of many books and countless illustrations. Even for New Zealand shells there are a good number of books ranging from pocket guides to the common shells, through to the complete manuals of Suter (1913) and Powell (1979). Few countries can be so fortunate as to have such a modern account as A.W.B. Powell's "New Zealand Mollusca", in which we are given a complete list, with descriptions and illustrations of our marine, land and freshwater molluscs. The generation after Suter's, extending well into modern time, was marked by intensified discovery and new description, with a proliferation of local generic names. Today there has been a return to a healthier balance, with the recognition that exclusive neozelanic, generic names can obscure a wide comparability which is so useful in community ecology and comparative morphology. Powell's "New Zealand Mollusca" emphasised this corrective trend and its revised nomenclature is not likely to become substantially out of date during this century. New records are certain to appear, however, both by discovery, aided in particular by the use of SCUBA studies, and also by immigration. Much bigger and faster ships and periodic international movement of giant oil-drilling rigs, have given new opportunities for the dispersal of marine species across the oceans. It was only by the appearance of Powell's great general work, that smaller books of more limited aim, and-specialised purpose, could be encouraged or become feasible to produce. "New Zealand Mollusca ll is based mainly on characters of the shells of the entire New Zealand molluscan fauna. In matters of taxonomy, our local series will follow it throughout, diverging only in a few well-advised instances, largely in higher group classification, where malacological and evolutionary study has proved informative.