Commissioners
Dr
Gary Rosenberg
Overview:
Gary
Rosenberg's research centers on the magnitude and origin of
species-level diversity in the Mollusca. Estimates of the total
number of living mollusc species range from less than 100,000
to more than 200,000 but there is little agreement even as
to how many species of molluscs have already been discovered.
He uses
electronic databases to better document the known diversity
of molluscs and to estimate their total diversity. One such
database is Malacolog 3.0 http://data.acnatsci.org/wasp/,
which gives distributions and synonyms for more than 4500 for
Western Atlantic marine gastropods. Another is a 'Biotic Database
of Indo-Pacific Marine Mollusks' http://data.acnatsci.org/obis/,
a collaborative effort across several institutions that treats
about 25,000 species.
He also
does research in Jamaica http://data.acnatsci.org/jamaica/,
which has one of the most diverse faunas of terrestrial mollusks
in the world, with more than 550 species, about 90% of which
are endemic. An interactive key to Jamaican land snail species
is online at http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Molluscs
Annularia
fimbriatula (Sowerby I, 1825)
Contact
details:
Associate
Curator & Chair, Department of Malacology
and Acting Vice-President, Center for Systematic Biology & Evolution
Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1195 USA
Phone:
(215) 299-1033
E-mail: rosenberg (at) ansp (dot)
org
