Pilsbry's monumental four volume Land Mollusca of North America is an amazing work. It includes, as a very small percentage of the total number of taxa, the Liguus fasciatus of Florida. Nevertheless, this treatment of Liguus in 1946 had a huge impact. Only a few incomplete guides, including Pilsbry 1912, and Simpson (1929) had been widely available and helpful in providing structure and identifications for the growing number of lig enthusiasts of the time. Access to other information was limited and often guarded, particularly in terms of locality data. We take for granted today the availability of images and obscure papers on the Internet. Information was difficult to come by and cherished then in a way not much remembered today. Pilsbry 1946 became the source.
lignumvitae
delicatus, dohertyi, lignumvitae, pseudopictus, simpsoni, splendidus, subcrenatus
matecumbensis
flamingoensis, matecumbensis
pictus
dryas, graphicus, innominatus, osmenti, pictus, vonpaulseni and auduboni. I include the consistent and persistent hybrid, now the variety sparksi, under pictus. It began as the product of dryas and pseudopictus.
septentrionalis
septentrionalis
solidulus
solidulus
solidus
All others, often called "mainland varieties."
Don Harvey and Pete Krull persuaded me to split into two subspecies the lignumvitae (the Matecumbe region) and the pictus (the Big Pine Key region), based partly on the geographic separation. The two groups were undoubtedly one in the not too distant past.
The solidus specimen of Say (1825) matches Key Vaca luteus of Simpson, now a junior synonym, and unavoidably becomes the type of the "mainland" subspecies.I place as subspecies solidulus, matecumbensis (probably originating in the Cape Sable region, not on Upper Matecumbe Key) and septentrionalis, based on geographic separation and unique morphologies.
The "solidus" of Simpson 1929 from the Big Pine Key region appears to be yet another outlying population of a mainland variety (cingulatus). The continuous variation found within the Big Pine Key population is a unique characteristic of the subspecies solidus among the Florida Liguus. This variation includes shell shape and expression of yellow bands, varying in width and intensity. The white morph from this population is the best fit we have with Simpson's crassus.
Pilsbry used the term "variety" (var./v.) freely in his 1946 work, even though the term is usually associated with botany. Both "variety" (var./v.) and "form" (forma/f.) are directly below the subspecies rank. I'll follow Pilsbry and use variety. Form has been abused for so long among Florida Liguus fanciers that using a fresh term for the rank below subspecies I think, would be helpful.
The type of Achatina solida Say 1825, ANSP 11494, has been found to be identical to shells of Key Vaca, a variety that has been called Liguus fasciatus luteus Simpson 1920. ANSP 11494 is clearly the shell that Titian Peal provided the ANSP and that has been referenced repeatedly since.
The taxonomy of Pilsbry is difficult to work with. Species, subspecies, groups, forms, varieties, races, morphs, hybrids and mixes are vaguely and often inconsistently defined throughout the work, though a core section, pages 53 through 101, is more precise. As a result, the most authoritative liggers of the time, those with the most field work under their belts, settled on calling all the named Florida Liguus "forms." These forms were generally considered the equivalent of subspecies. Out of potentially hundreds of taxa, many that would have been more justifiably named, just fifty, as named, defined and figured in Pilsbry 1946, became the immutable ideals, the pseudo-subspecies or forms of the Florida Liguus. There were some grumblings about the more questionable but, by and large, the fifty, and ten more published after 1946, were the ones to get to finish a collection.
Nothing as comprehensive as Pilsbry has been published since, and authors have been reluctant to stray from an orthodoxy that Pilsbry surely didn't mean to create.
I'm going to call the traditional, post-1946, system the Jones model as he was probably its most influential proponent during the last half of the Twentieth Century. By 2007 the Jones model included sixty named and published forms under a single species, Liguus fasciatus.
Currently, my arrangement of Florida Liguus uses six subspecies, some of which may eventually be found to be species. The taxonomic ranks used in my model are genus, species, subspecies, variety and morph. The term group is not a rank but a tool to help simplify the complexity of the solidus subspecies.
I'm going to call the traditional, post-1946, system the Jones model as he was probably its most influential proponent during the last half of the Twentieth Century. By 2007 the Jones model included sixty named and published forms under a single species, Liguus fasciatus.
Currently, my arrangement of Florida Liguus uses six subspecies, some of which may eventually be found to be species. The taxonomic ranks used in my model are genus, species, subspecies, variety and morph. The term group is not a rank but a tool to help simplify the complexity of the solidus subspecies.
The Florida subspecies:
lignumvitae
delicatus, dohertyi, lignumvitae, pseudopictus, simpsoni, splendidus, subcrenatus
matecumbensis
flamingoensis, matecumbensis
pictus
dryas, graphicus, innominatus, osmenti, pictus, vonpaulseni and auduboni. I include the consistent and persistent hybrid, now the variety sparksi, under pictus. It began as the product of dryas and pseudopictus.
septentrionalis
septentrionalis
solidulus
solidulus
solidus
All others, often called "mainland varieties."
Don Harvey and Pete Krull persuaded me to split into two subspecies the lignumvitae (the Matecumbe region) and the pictus (the Big Pine Key region), based partly on the geographic separation. The two groups were undoubtedly one in the not too distant past.
The solidus specimen of Say (1825) matches Key Vaca luteus of Simpson, now a junior synonym, and unavoidably becomes the type of the "mainland" subspecies.I place as subspecies solidulus, matecumbensis (probably originating in the Cape Sable region, not on Upper Matecumbe Key) and septentrionalis, based on geographic separation and unique morphologies.
The "solidus" of Simpson 1929 from the Big Pine Key region appears to be yet another outlying population of a mainland variety (cingulatus). The continuous variation found within the Big Pine Key population is a unique characteristic of the subspecies solidus among the Florida Liguus. This variation includes shell shape and expression of yellow bands, varying in width and intensity. The white morph from this population is the best fit we have with Simpson's crassus.
Pilsbry used the term "variety" (var./v.) freely in his 1946 work, even though the term is usually associated with botany. Both "variety" (var./v.) and "form" (forma/f.) are directly below the subspecies rank. I'll follow Pilsbry and use variety. Form has been abused for so long among Florida Liguus fanciers that using a fresh term for the rank below subspecies I think, would be helpful.
I identify subspecies as groups of varieties having unique, significant and consistent morphological differences, and are likely the products of isolation (before the disruptions of the Twentieth Century).
I identify varieties as having persistent combinations of pattern and coloration within subspecies.
I identify hybrids as the rather uncommon, unusual and non-persistent products of varieties of different subspecies (possibly species). Sparksi is a rare exception.
The mixes within subspecies are seldom consistent or persistent. Margaretae, kennethi and hortensis are unusual exceptions. Nearly all Liguus mixes in Florida are within the very polymorphic subspecies solidus.
While some hybrids and mixes may have the characteristics of pseudos, they are neither consistent nor persistent.
I identify varieties as having persistent combinations of pattern and coloration within subspecies.
I identify hybrids as the rather uncommon, unusual and non-persistent products of varieties of different subspecies (possibly species). Sparksi is a rare exception.
The mixes within subspecies are seldom consistent or persistent. Margaretae, kennethi and hortensis are unusual exceptions. Nearly all Liguus mixes in Florida are within the very polymorphic subspecies solidus.
While some hybrids and mixes may have the characteristics of pseudos, they are neither consistent nor persistent.
The type of Achatina solida Say 1825, ANSP 11494, has been found to be identical to shells of Key Vaca, a variety that has been called Liguus fasciatus luteus Simpson 1920. ANSP 11494 is clearly the shell that Titian Peal provided the ANSP and that has been referenced repeatedly since.
Peal travelled to Key West, with stops along the way which included Knights Key, now part of the town of Marathon. Whether or not this specimen was actually collected by Peale on Knights Key or on the nearby Key Vaca, or was received by him from another collector, the identity of the shell is clear. I'm compelled to place Liguus fasciatus solidus (Say 1825) as the type of the very polymorphic subspecies that includes most Florida Liguus varieties.
How did a Key Vaca shell initially end up being accepted as the type of a subspecies representing all Lower Keys and Matecumbe region Liguus? The following is from Pilsbry 1912, drawn from Peale's journal.
"Peale spent the winter of 1824-5 in Florida. Early in 1825 he left St. Augustine, where he had been for some time, for a sea trip to the Keys. The first stop was at Key Tavernier, February 5; then 'Ad. Knight's Key near Key Vacas,' February 6; and the following day they made Key West. At both of these Keys Peale mentions collecting crustacea, mollusks, etc., but without mentioning land shells. Liguus probably occurs on neither of them. On February 9 Peale landed on Key West to hunt, 'but found nothing but some shells.' On the 13th they landed on Sand Key, and February 14 on Boca Chica, where he 'found some fine shells.' On the 21st, having returned to Key West, Peale 'collected land shells which we found in great abundance on the trees, some of them very handsome.' Subsequently, March 2, he landed on one of the islands near"Bayou Honda" [Bahia Honda] to hunt, and 'found a few good shells.' From this account, it seems very likely that Peale got the type of Liguus solidus on Key West, this being the only place where he mentions finding land shells. The 'very handsome' shells 'on the trees' could hardly have been anything else than Liguus solidus."
The following is also from Pilsbry 1912.
"The locality and collector of the type of L. solidus were given by Say as 'East Florida, T. R. Peale.' Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, V, P. 122."
With very little evidence, it was a considerable leap of faith to conclude that a "very handsome" shell must equal the Peale specimen. No one looked further. It may be that the very handsome variety on Key West was pictus, auduboni,a shell related to pictus, solidulus or even Orthalicus reses. Three interesting shells were collected by Audubon in 1832 during his stay in Key West. They reside in the Museum of Natural History, London. One appears to be a green-lined solidulus, one a green-lined pictus and one a pictus-like shell with pink columella and a somewhat spotted pattern. The Key West hammock had been cut down by 1837.
No second shell matching the solidus type has been found anywhere in the Lower Keys. I can't ignore Say's type. I have to accept L. f. solidus (Say 1825) as the type of the subspecies that includes the variety luteus, also from Key Vaca, which I've synonymized in my collection.
No second shell matching the solidus type has been found anywhere in the Lower Keys. I can't ignore Say's type. I have to accept L. f. solidus (Say 1825) as the type of the subspecies that includes the variety luteus, also from Key Vaca, which I've synonymized in my collection.
