Vita Malacologica, Volume 21: The Molluscan Species (Gastropoda; Bivalvia) Described by Albert Mousson (1805-1890) and His Collection in Zurich

About this book

The Swiss Albert Mousson (1805-1890) was not only an eminent professor in Experimental Physics but also a famous naturalist, with a focus on land- and freshwater molluscs. He published a series of papers on molluscs between 1847-1888. The geographic scope was worldwide, with special attention given to Java (1849-1850), the Caucasus/Middle East (1859-1876), the tropical Pacific Islands (1865-1873), and the Canary Islands (1872). He was one of the first investigators on the malacofauna of these regions, and because of these pioneering efforts, he was able to describe a significant number of new taxa, which today are affiliated to 82 families. He was far ahead of his time in terms of speciation concepts and geographic documentation. Almost all his material was obtained from the collecting efforts of others. Happily, the collection of Mousson largely remained intact over time and is in the possession of the Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich. The authors present a complete list of the malacological papers of Mousson, give brief biographic notes on the people who provided him with material, list the genus-group names introduced by Mousson, and provide a list of eponyms dedicated to Mousson. The main part of the paper concerns a catalogue containing all species-group taxa described by Mousson. All taxa are provided with the primary reference, the type locality, the type specimens, and the latest information on their taxonomic position. Of the 700 new species-group names introduced by Mousson, type specimens of 624 could be found back in his collection in Zurich or that of the collection of the Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. They are presented in 69 colour plates with almost 1,500 photos often showing several shell details.

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