Suggestions for ID sources?

[wolfi]

Hi wateryworld,
unfortunately, I have to earn money  :-[ and to do some other things, but I do what I can, and I'm sure, all other people here, too.
You are quite right, it's very helpful to know the familiy or the genus, at first. If you know about that, you can visit
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.femorale.com.br/&nbsp;">www.femorale.com.br/&nbsp;</a><!-- w --> or
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.conchology.be">www.conchology.be</a><!-- w -->, for example, if you don't have highly specialized literature at home.
Several books can help you getting a hypothesis concerning the family and genus (most of them are a little bit older, but can nevertheless help to get an idea), f.e.:
ABBOTT, R.T. & S.P. DANCE (1998): Compendium of Seashells - Odyssey Publishing El Cajon, Calif., 6th printing
DANCE, S.P.: Muscheln und Schnecken - Ravensburger Naturführer, Ravensburger Buchverlag Otto Maier, 1994. Original: Eyewitness Handbooks: Shells, Dorling Kindersley, London, 1992
LINDNER, G.: Muscheln und Schnecken der Weltmeere - BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, München/Wien/Zürich, 5. überarb. und erw. Aufl. 1999
The last book should be translated, meanwhile, but anyway, the pictures will help you along and the scientific names are the same in all languages…… .
There are lots of books dealing with different regions of the world, but I think, most important for you today is to get a general overview.
Of course there's a lot of dynamic in taxonomy in the last years; the genus and sometimes even the family of a species can be altered on the basis of new results from DNA research, f.e., but that’s life and progress…….  .
I'm sure some other people here will have more hints for you.
Kind regards  : wolf