Guido T. Poppe, Sheila P. Tagaro e Philippe Poppe, The Conchological Albums. Terrestrial molluscs [Voll. 1-13], Ed. ConchBooks, 2021-2023

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n 2003 Conchology, Inc. was created in the Philippines. A company with the purpose to supply collectors, scientists and museums with specimen shells for their constantly growing collections. This was a success story until now and the company enjoys the support of thousands of conchological enthusiasts, scientists and either private or national museums worldwide.

The company promoted conchology as a science, and through its network, more than 2000 new species have been discovered, of which by now the present author in collaboration with a number of scientists could describe over 400 different species, mainly in the journal of Conchology, Inc.: Visaya. Visaya was an instant success and is published by ConchBooks in Germany. Authors from all over the planet published 884 new species in the journal, created in 2004. Visaya now counts 4265 pages with 1466 full page plates.

In the 17 years of activity, Conchology, Inc. acquired several important private shell collections. Out of dozens we mention the Belgian Marcel Verhaeghe collection, started by his father Rudolphe around 1930, the South African Meyer collection and the north American Tom Rice collection, worldwide in scope but with a focus on northern American west coast material.

These mega-collections, together with many others and constant supply from dealers all over the world were carefully documented in databases and while the junk or poorly documented shells were discarded, all the valuable material has been photographed. The databases at present count more than 1.2 million photographs and cover between 35000 and 40000 different species.

Part of it is shown on the homepage of Conchology, Inc. In 2018 this homepage got over 17.8 million sessions, which proves the popularity and general interest of the world population in mollusks at present.

Conchology, Inc. does not handle shells listed in Cites and on several protected species lists, but we photograph and document from existing collections these species for our publications such as this one.

We decided to document the ensemble of almost all the species we handled and could photograph in the past in books, as “paper” has proven until now to be the best time-resistent material to keep information in the very long term.

In a giga-project as the one undertaken here, the sorting out of 151000 documented photographs of land snail shells, classifying them into families and going down to the species and subspecies level, no one today can approach perfection if time is not endless.

The vast amount of family groups lacks experts, and few groups have been revised properly. Time is a limit for the author. So, it is out of the question to start studying in detail groups of shells, as this will put in danger the technical and systematic advance of the total achievement of the series of Albums.

Mainly for the above reasons the “quality” of the work is very different between the different molluscan groupings featured. In some cases we could rely on experts, and there the quality of determinations will be high. Clausiliidae are one such group. But groups, such as Cerion for example, did not enjoy the revision of an expert.

There the author relies merely on the names as found in the different collections. These names were sometimes correct but often they are wrong or simply outdated. This because old literature was scarce in the 20″ century. It is only with the event of the internet that a major part of the prime books in conchology are at the fingertips of the majority of collectors, and this is only true for the last decade.

Discrepancies can also be seen between differences of collection shells and the museum types figured. This will motivate future students to work out the proper determinations of the shelis shown.

So, best is to consider the Albums as a vast collection of land snail shells on your fingertips: it is rather a guide than a final product. Correctness has been pursued first of all by the people that made the collections that we used, secondly, by the people that published the vast amount of literature that we already use.

Conchologists of all walks of life, professional or amateur, will definitely find a wealth of information in the albums, and I hope they will prove to be a motivation to go more into revising with scientific methods the great heritage we still have, living around us, on our planet.

Contents of each volume:

1. 637 shells that belong to 261 different species and 62 subspecies of the respective families. Treated genera: Acavus, Ampelita, Embertoniphanta, Eurystyla, Helicophanta, Oligospira, Stylodonta, Achatinella, Newcombia, Partulina, Perdicella, Auriculella, Tubuaia, Lamellidea, Tornatellinops, Tornatellaria, Tornatellides, Elasmias, Fernandezia, Tornatellina, Achatina, Archachatina, Burtoa, Lissachatina.
2. 734 shells that belong to 448 different species and 13 subspecies of the respective families. Treated genera: Atropocochlis, Lignus, Lissachatina, Metachatina, Pseudachatina, Callistoplepa, Columna, Limicolaria, Coeliaxis, Glessula, Eremopeas, Opeas, Bocageia, Ceras, Dictyoglessula, Kempioconcha, Oreohomorus, Subuliniscus, Subulona, Pyrgina, Tortaxis, Rumina, Neobeliscus, Obeliscus, Plicaxis, Rhodea, Synapterpes, Allopeas, Beckianum, Curvella, Dysopeas, Leptinaria, Neoglessula, Paropeas, Prosopeas, Pseudoglessula, Pseudopeas, Subulina, Zootecus, Thyrophorella, Acicula, Menkia, Platyla, Renea, Agardhiella, Amastra, Amastrella, Angulidens, Carelia, Ilikala, Kauaia, Laminella, Leptachatina, Metamastra, Paramastra, Thaanumia, Tropidoptera, Amphibulima, Dryptus, Eudolichotis, Pellicula, Plekocheilus, Argna.
3. 703 shells that belong to 421 different species and 41 subspecies of the respective families. Treated genera: Abbottella, Abbottipoma, Annularisca, Arenabbottella, Leiabbotella, Meganipha, Opisthosiphon, Preclaripoma, Rolleia, Adamsiella, Annularia, Annularops, Blaesospira, Chittypoma, Cistulops, Choanopoma, Juannularia, Xenopoma, Annularodes, Bonairea, Chondropoma, Chondrothyrium, Crossepoma, Diplopoma, Parachondria, Rhytidopoma, Rhytidothyra, Annularita, Choanopomops, Chondropometes, Chondropomium, Chondrothyra, Clydonopoma, Colobostylus, Eutudora, Halotudora, Licina, Superbipoma, Tudora, Tudorisca, Ariophanta, Cryptozona, Euplecta, Hemiplecta, Megaustenia, Xesta, Macrochlamys, Microcystina, Sarika, Sesara, Taphrenalla, Vitrinula, Azeca, Cryptazeca, Gomphroa, Hypnophila, Bothriembryon, Apastus, Callistocharis, Diplomorpha, Eumecostylus, Euplacostylus, Placocharis, Poecilocharis.
4. complete as possible. Volume 4 of this series figures 638 shells that belong to 341 different species and 60 subspecies of the respective families. Treated genera: Euplacostylus, Leucocharis, Placostylus, Santacharis, Discoleus, Plecostylus, Bostryx, Anctus, Auris, Berendtia, Bocourtia, Bulimulus, Cochlorina, Graptostracus, Kora, Naesiotus, Neopetraeus, Otostomus, Oxychona, Protoglyptus, Rabdotus, Scutalus.
5. 587 shells that belong to 301 different species and 49 subspecies of the respective families. Treated genera: Drymaeus, Acusta, Aegista, Ainohelix, Bradybaena, Buliminidius, Cathaica, Coelorus, Dolicheulota, Euhadra, Ezohelix, Fruticicola, Guamampa, Karaftohelix, Laeocathaica, Landouria, Mandarina, Metodontia, Nesiohelix, Phaeohelix, Pseudobuliminus, Satsuma, Trichocathaica, Trishoplita.
6. 646 shells that belong to 181 different species and 21 subspecies of the Camaenidae. Treated genera: Aegista, Anceyoconcha, Buliminidius, Fruticicola, Pancala, Plectotropis, Ponsadenia, Pseudaspasita, Pseudobuliminus, Satsuma, Stenogyropsis, Stilpnodiscus, Traumatophora, Tricheulota, Trichocathaica, Trishoplita, Yakuchloritis, Amphidromusd.
7. 657 shells that belong to 167 different species and 25 subspecies of the Camaenidae. Treated genera: Amphidromus, Albersia, Camaena.
8. 463 shells that belong to 259 different species and 20 subspecies of the Camaenidae. Treated genera: Bellatrachia, Camaena, Disteustoma, Entadella, Gansella, Globotrochus, Moellendorffia, Neocepolis, Obba, Pseudobba, Pseudopartula, Pseudotrachia, Trachia, Trichelix, Trichochloritis, Amplirhagada, Arnemelassa, Austrocamaena, Austrochloritis, Basedowena, Bentosites, Canefriula, Caperantrum, Carinotrachia, Catellotrachia, Chloritis, Chloritisanax, Claudettea, Cooperconcha, Cristilabrum, Crookshanksia, Crystallopsis, Cupedora, Damochlora, Eurytrachia, Exiligada, Falspleuroxia, Figuladra, Forcartia, Galadistes, Gloreugenia, Glyptorhagada, Gnarosophia, Granulomelon, Hadra, Kimboraga, Lamprellia, Letitia, Marilynessa, Parachloritis, Patrubella.
9. 536 shells that belong to 274 different species and 8 subspecies of the Camaenidae. Treated genera: Basedowena, Bentosites, Chloritis, Christigibba, Eurytrachia, Figuladra, Globorhagada, Granulomelon, Lamprellia, Letitia, Marilynessa, Megalacron, Meliobba, Melostrachia, Mesodontrachia, Montanomelon, Moretonistes, Mouldingia, Nanotrachia, Neveritis, Ningbingia, Noctepuna, Ordtrachia, Pallidelix, Papuina, Papustyla, Parglogenia, Planispira, Plectorhagada, Pleuroxia, Promonturconchum, Prototrachia, Ramogenia, Retroterra Rhagada, Rhynchotrochus, Setobaudinia, Sinumelon, Sphaerospira, Spurlingia, Steorra, Strepsitaurus, Tatemelon, Temporena, Thersites, Tolgachloritis, Toombatrachia, Torresitrachia, Trachiopsis, Trozena, Turgenitubulus, Ventopelita, Westraltrachia, Xanthomelon, Zyghelix.
10. 558 shells of the subfamily Helicostylinae of the Camaenidae from all over the Philippines that belong to 114 different species and 20 subspecies. Treated genera: Anixa, Calocochlea, Canistrum, Chloraea, Chrysallis, Cochlostyla.
11. 548 shells that belong to 165 different species and 27 subspecies. Treated genera: Dolichostyla, Dryocochlias, Helicobulinus, Helicostyla, Hypselostyla, Leytia, Mesanella, Phengus, Phoenicobius, Trachystyla, Pyrochilus, Canariella, Montserratina, Schileykiella, Tyrrheniellina, Anoglypta, Caryodes, Hedleyella, Pedinogyra, Cepolella, Laevicepolis, Guladentia, Hemitrochus, Coryda, Eurycampta, Cepolis, Jeanneretia, Plagioptycha, Polymita, Dialeuca, Achatinelloides, Passamaella, Cerastus, Conulinus, Euryptyxis, Pachnodus, Rhachistia, Nesiocerastus, Rachis, Zebrinops, Gittenedouardia.
12. 657 shells that belong to 280 different species and 61 subspecies. Treated genera: Cerion, Allodiscus, Amphidoxa, Andrefrancia, Annoselix, Charopa, Charopella, Cralopa, Elsothera, Fectola, Flammulina, Goweroconcha, Gyrocochlea, Isolderopa, Lorelleia, Luinodiscus, Micromphalia, Monomphalus, Nautiliropa, Pernagera, Phacussa, Phenacharopa, Philalanka, Pilula, Ptychodon, Radiodiscus, Reticulapex, Ruthvenia, Serpho, Sinployea, Suteria, Teracharopa, Thalassohelix, Therasia, Trachycystis, Xerocystis, Abida, Chondrina, Granaria, Graniberia, Granopupa, Rupestrella, Solatopupa, Atrichoconcha, Bekkochlamys, Exrhysota, Hemiglypta, Hemiglyptopsis, Hemitrichiella, Japanochlamys, Kaliella, Lamarckiella, Lepidotrichia, Parakaliella, Pararyssota, Ryssota.
13. 709 shells of the Clausiliidae (subfamily Alopiinae) that belong to 220 different species and 141 subspecies. Treated genera: Agathylla, Albinaria, Alopia, Barcania, Carinigera, Charpentieria, Cochlodina, Cristataria, Heriella, Inchoatia, Isabellaria, Lampedusa, Leucostgma, Macedonica, Mauritanica, Tirolica.

Prime edizioni uscite tra il 2021 ed il 2023, in lingua inglese, pubblicata da ConchBooks, a copertina rigida cartonata lucida a colori con titolazioni in bianco al piatto e al dorso; rilegata a filo; stampato su carta patinata di buona qualità e con buone marginature ai paragrafi; ricchissima di fotografie a colori.

Nuovo [i volumi, seppur di provenienza privata non editoriale, non sono quasi mai stati consultati, e diversi di essi sono ancora incellofanati e mai aperti]