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Auckland Shell Club |
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Auckland Shell Club |
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July Meeting
The focus family was Epitoniidae, and attendees brought in a variety of displays on that subject.
Luen Jones brought in a magnificent display of about 60 worldwide Epitonium species. This is one of Luens speciality families, and he advised that his display represented just a fraction of the number of Epitonium species worldwide.
Margaret Morley gave us a short quiz on Epitoniums ... What do they eat? Answer: anenomes. What defense mechanism do they use? Answer: they squirt purple ink.
In preparing his tray for the meeting, Peter Poortman double checked the ids of his NZ Epitoniums and was shocked to discover that all the shells he had labelled as Epitonium bucknilli were in fact Epitonium jukesianum. Some of these shells had traces of bucknilli features, but not enough to really differentiate them from jukesianum.
Wilma Blom explained that the name Wentletrap comes from the Dutch words "wentle" (spiral) and "trap" (staircase).
Margaret Morley brought in a selection of shells from a recent washup at Oneroa Beach on Waiheke Island.
She had often found live adult Struthiolaria papulosa there, but hadn't seen any for many years. Interestingly, the recent washup included hundreds of juvenile Struthiolarias.
Margaret also kindly handed around a box of NZ shells for free giveaway.
Our guest speaker for the evening was Dr Wilma Blom, the Marine Invertebrates Curator at Auckland Museum.
Wilma demonstrated to us the "New Zealand Marine Life App" which the Auckland Museum recently launched online. This is the museum’s first App, and it is now available for free download from the Apple App Store by anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
The App is a digital field guide that can be used to identify and provide information on a selection of marine life in our coastal waters. It currently holds descriptions of 130 of New Zealand’s most common coastal-dwelling marine mammals, reptiles, fish, shellfish, invertebrates, seaweeds and plants.
As well as high quality images of each species, it contains detailed information about their taxonomy, biology, identifying characteristics, diet, habitat, distribution, and native & endangered status. Auckland Museum's marine team and contributing scientists will continue to add species and update content in future releases. It may also one day include NZ insects and birds, and is capable of playing audio.
Currently it will only run on Apple devices, but the plan is to eventually make it available on other common platforms.
More info and a download link can be found at http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/1878/nz-marine-life-app.
Next Meeting – Tuesday 13th August
Epsom Community Centre, 202 Gillies Avenue, Epsom at 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm)
The topic will be "Making and Using Evolutionary Trees for Molluscs".
We are privileged to have as our guest speaker, Professor Hamish G. Spencer from the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago in Dunedin.
Hamish will talk about the genetic technology that has revolutionized animal taxonomy, including that of molluscs. This new technology has provided reliable ways of tracing the evolutionary history of groups of related species, which can then be depicted as evolutionary trees.
Hamish will give us some examples of how this has enabled discoveries about New Zealand's molluscan fauna. Eg. understanding molluscs co-evolution with their parasites, the identification of cryptic limpet species, and also the evolution of land snail shape.
Hamish is an excellent speaker, and he promises not to blind us with science.
No previous knowledge of genetics will be necessary!
Shell Auction – Saturday 26th October
Our annual Shell Auction will be held on Labour Weekend at the Albany Hall.
Sellers please get your lot lists to Peter before the end of August. Lot numbers are limited to 20 per person, but please advise if you would like to put in more than that because room for more may become available.
As usual the club will take a 10% commission on the sale price.
Contact Peter Poortman (petermwp@gmail.com or 09 817 1397) for more information.
Poirieria Magazine
We welcome contributions to our club magazine "Poirieria".
Anything related to shells or collecting would be greatly appreciated - Eg. shelling trips/finds, personal observations/tips, scientific research, historic anecdotes, a notable washup, etc.
Please email articles to Peter Poortman at petermwp@gmail.com, or post to 26 Pendlebury Street, Green Bay, Auckland 0604.
Club Library
We have an extensive collection of books, magazines, and scientific publications available, as well as a biological microscope.
Other News
. Whangarei Shell Club will have their 50th anniversary in May 2015. They plan to celebrate this with a public exhibition of shell displays from local members and hopefully also from members of other clubs.
. The 10th Australian Shell Show will be held on 7-9th/February/2014 at the Balgowlah RSL Memorial Club 30-38 Ethel Street, Seaforth, Sydney, N.S.W. 2092. For more information email shellshow@sydneyshellclub.net.
. Items of interest for the monthly newsletter are always welcome - email to petermwp@gmail.com, or post to Peter Poortman, 26 Pendlebury Street, Green Bay, Auckland 0604.
