Bivalvian triptych: bivalves seashells of western South America

VALENTICH-SCOTT P., E. V. COAN Y D. G. ZELAYA

Azores

Congreso; world congress of malacology; 2013

The marine bivalve mollusks from Arctic Alaska, U.S.A., to northern Peru have been the subject of our two previously published books. We have begun research on a third eastern Pacific Ocean bivalve monograph, to be entitled Bivalve Seashells of Western South America. The study region originates at Punta Aguja, Piura, Peru (5.8°S), and continues south to the southern tip of Isla Chiloe, Los Lagos, Chile (43.4°S). As with the previous monographs, we will cover species that occur from the intertidal zone to the deep sea. As we have reviewed the literature for the Peru-Chile Province, we have noted a marked decrease in bivalve diversity compared with similar northern latitudes. In the Alaskan, Oregonian and Californian Provinces, we have documented over 470 bivalve species, in the Panamic Province 892 species, whereas we currently only have records for 217 species from the Peru-Chile Province. The decrease in the number of species present in the southern region may be a function of under-sampling, or may represent a much lower diversity, or a combination of both factors.