Tropical Marine Mollusks (ePub)

the discovery and description of over 1,200 new species of mollusks and over 90 new genera. His previous 20 books are well-known reference texts in the malacological and paleontological communities, and some of the better known include: Jewels of the Everglades: The Fossil Cowries of Southern Florida (2018), The Living and Fossil Busycon Whelks: Iconic Mollusks of Eastern North America (2015), Molluscan Communities of the Florida Keys and Adjacent Areas: Their Ecology and Biodiversity (2014), Biogeography and Biodiversity of Western Atlantic Mollusks (2013), Molluscan Paleontology of the Chesapeake Miocene (2010), The Geology of the Everglades and Adjacent Areas (2007), Cenozoic Seas: The View from Eastern North America (2004), and Cone Shells of the Okeechobean Sea (2015). Currently, Petuch is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida where, for thirty years, he taught undergraduate classes in oceanography, paleontology, and physical geology, and graduate classes in paleoecology and paleoceanography. He currently resides in Jupiter, Florida, with his wife Linda, where they both enjoy visits from their three children and their families.

David P. Berschauer was born in Rockville Center, New York in 1964, and spent his youth collecting shells in such varied localities as California, New York, Florida, Washington, and Mexico. His early interests in natural history, malacology, and marine biology eventually led to a B.S. degree in biology at the University of California-Irvine, an advanced marine invertebrate zoology course at Washington State University's Friday Harbor Marine Lab, and studies towards the pursuit of a graduate degree in marine biology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. While still an undergraduate, Berschauer performed field biology research, published a number of research papers and gave scientific presentations at national conferences. He subsequently switched career paths and attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, California, earning his Juris Doctorate degree in 1991. Although having developed a legal career, he has kept malacology as a lifetime avocation and has put together a sizeable research collection and personal museum of molluscan specimens. Over his entire professional life, Berschauer continued to pursue his passion for marine biology, and collecting and studying marine organisms. In his spare time, he has developed and published a relational database software program to aid in the organization and maintenance of a systematic collection. Although originally designed for malacology, the program is applicable to entomology and other aspects of systematic zoology. Now residing in Laguna Hills, California, Berschauer is an active member of the San Diego Shell Club and is the co-editor of the journal, The Festivus. He is also well known for his natural history and shell photography, with a multitude of high-quality examples seen throughout this book. Besides being the author of many important scientific papers on molluscan systematics, Berschauer has described and named over 30 new species of gastropods and is also the co-author of several recent books on mollusks, including The Living and Fossil Busycon Whelks: Iconic Mollusks of Eastern North America (2015), Jewels of the Everglades: The Fossil Cowries of Southern Florida (2018), and the well-received Sea Shells of Southern California: Marine Shells of the Californian Province (2018). Between court cases and an active law practice, Berschauer and his wife Felicia find time to enjoy traveling on cruise ships and exploring.