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Busycon species |
| Mr. John Timmerman (Wilmington, North Carolina) has collected a number of unusual dead Busycon specimens from Cape Lookout and the Shackleford Banks of North Carolina. These shells, of probable Recent origin, possess characteristics of Busycon perversum (Linnaeus, 1758) of the Northwest Yucatan Peninsula - most notably the tumid ridge on the anterior third of the body whorl. The thickness and weight of the shells is unmatched by any known Recent or fossil species. The implications of this form's existence are not clear. A possible explanation is that environmental forces in North Carolina and the Yucatan elicit this shell form in the same species, B. perversum. |
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Shackleford Banks, North Carolina, March, 1999 (top - 160 mm. | bottom 100 mm.) |
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