Molluscs of Tasmania
A guide to the seashells and other marine molluscs of Tasmania
This web-site contains over 3000 pages of information on all the marine mollusc species that are currently recognised by the author as occurring in Tasmanian waters, both inshore and offshore; plus information on the coastal localities around Tasmania where these species have been recorded. They are compiled from the author’s database, which stores tens of thousands of records of molluscs collected from around Tasmania, as well as related taxonomic, habitat and distributional information. The records are chiefly those of the author, but the database is also a repository for records from the Tasmanian Museum, the Queen Victoria Museum, Margaret Richmond and Rob de Little, as well as a range of other sources. This project grew out of the 2006 publication of A systematic list of the marine molluscs of Tasmania, by Simon Grove, Ron Kershaw, Brian Smith and Elizabeth Turner. Because molluscan taxonomy is in a continual state of flux, and because our understanding of what species occur in Tasmania is advancing all the time, a paper publication on this subject rapidly becomes outdated as new species are discovered, new names and taxonomic relationships are introduced and old ones invalidated. These web-pages are designed to avoid the fate of a paper publication by being amenable to regular updating.
Species and Localities
The two main foci of this web-site are species and localities. Each species is given its own page, featuring one or more images of exemplars of the species; plus a distribution map of available records (both inshore and offshore); plus further information (if available) on synonyms and on size, distribution, habitat and frequency of occurrence. A species’ higher-level classification can be accessed via a toggle. Two further toggles list the coastal localities at which the species has been recorded. Only coastal localities are listed, primarily because offshore records are often imprecise, and aren’t readily assignable to places with recognisable names. Clicking on any of these localities will take you to the respective locality page. A locality page features a zoomable map showing its location on the Tasmanian coast, plus thumbnails of each of the species (in alphabetical order) that have been recorded from that locality. Clicking on any of these species will take you to the respective species-level page.
