A few doors down from the White House sits the largest collection of molluscs in the country, including the holotype of the “Cumberland tigersnail,” Anguispira cumberlandiana, a species that was first described in 1840. The holotype is surprisingly colorful and fresh-looking, despite its age.

Anguispira cumberlandiana holotype

Anguispira cumberlandiana holotype, bottom view. The streaks on the base of this shell are confounding -- they are seldom found in other members of the "same" species and are very much like the streaks on the base of Anguispira picta shells.

Specimen labels, including those from the 1840s

Bob Hershler, Research Zoologist and Curator of Mollusks, was a very helpful and welcoming host and was kind enough to let me look through some of the other type specimens — the Smithsonian has cabinets full of extraordinary material.

Following up on previous comments about museum street art, the entrance to the museum had no snail sculptures, but some tree ferns appeared as I was working inside. They were on the back of a truck when I walked in, no doubt coming to add summertime botanical interest to the entranceway. I think they are Dicksonia, a south-east Australian/Tasmanian species.

Australia comes to Washington -- tree fern in front of the Smithsonian

After my last blog post about the lack of street art snails, I was dumbfounded to walk up to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Phildelphia and see this:

Snail outside ANSP (the red brick building behind). There seems to have been some convergent evolution with bryophytes.

The ANSP also has cool dinos in front:

Deinonychus at ANSP

Thanks to the kind welcome of Amanda Lawless, Research Assistant in the Department of Malacology, I was able to examine more Anguispira specimens, including some from Sewanee collected in the mid-19^th century when Sewanee was known as “University Place”:

Old Skool malacology in Sewanee

More holotypes. This one is from a species endemic to one small part of Kentucky:

Anguispira rugoderma holotype

A cornucopia of tigersnails!

Ooo la la, Holotypes galore at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh!

Anguispira picta holotype, Carnegie Museum

Specimen labels from Anguispira picta holotype, Carnegie Museum

Anguispira alabama holotype, Carnegie Museum

Drawer full of type specimens, Carnegie Museum

These are the original specimens from which the venerable G. H. Clapp described the rare tigersnails (genus Anguispira). These snails live in the rocky limestone outcrops that jut from the low mountain slopes around Sewanee.

After studying these snails for several years it was a treat to see and photograph these beautiful shells. The “holotypes” are the individual specimens to which the name of each species is attached – the throbbing heart of all of biology because without species names, the life sciences could not operate. Yay for taxonomy!

Jia Pan and I have been sequencing the snails’ mitochondrial DNA to peer into their evolutionary history and present-day genetic diversity. Our genetic work suggests that some previously undescribed forms may lurk in the shady mountain coves – we’re now checking to see how the appearance of the shells matches (or not) the genetic information. Thank you to Tim Pearce, Asst. Curator & Head, Section of Mollusks at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for making my visit such a pleasure.

Surprisingly, the museum chose not to feature Anguispira in their street art:

Diplodocus, Carnegie Museum

Diplodocus nameplate, Carnegie Museum

Triceratops in full breeding colors, Carnegie Museum