labral teeth

[paul monfils]

Wow, tough one!  I was looking forward to gaining a little information on this matter myself, and figured it wouldn't be difficult to find since I have a pretty substantial conchological library.  But, after going through The Living Cowries (Burgess); Cowries of the World (Burgess); A Guide to Worldwide Cowries (Lorenz & Hubert);  Cowries and their Relatives of Southern Africa (Liltved);  The Invertebrates, Volume VI, Mollusca (Hyman); Living Marine Molluscs (Yonge & Thompson); and 7 or 8 more general volumes, I did not find a single word suggesting any purpose or function for the dentition of cowrie shells, labral or columellar.  I'll post this query on the Conch-L listserve also, and perhaps someone there will have some suggestion.  If so, I'll post the information here.

I would like to offer some possible help in a different way though.  I have been a shell importer/dealer for 40 years, and as such have thousands of shells on hand, which include many specimens that I don't consider suitable for sale due to growth lines, small chips, dull spots, etc., but which are still nice shells and great for classroom use.  Every so often I send a box of such shells to a school, scout camp, etc.  They are all labeled with scientific name and geographic locality of origin.  If this sounds like something you could use, email me and tell me a little about the classroom activity you are doing, and I'll send you some suitable shells.

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.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-05-10 21:45:35 --</span>