Moluscos Australes

This is a quick post on a lovely little book I recently found on my shelf, named “Moluscos Australes: Una Guia Ilustrada”, which is Spanish for “Austral Mollusks: an Illustrated Guide”.

The cover of a book reads "Austral Mollusks: an Illustrated Guide. Bivalves and snails from the coast of the southern tip of America" in bold blue letters. Beneath the title lies a picture of a blue seashell.
“Austral Mollusks: an Illustrated Guide. Bivalves and snails from the coast of the southern tip of America”

This book was most likely bought in Punta Arenas, the capital of the Chilean province of Patagonia, when I visited there in late 2012 on my way to the Torres del Paine national park. The book contains a large number of black and white diagrams of seashells, together with detailed descriptions of the species they depict. Upon finding this copy of the book on my shelf more than 10 years later, I was delighted with both the extreme randomness of its contents and the beauty of the illustrations it contains — which where drawn by the book author, Dr. Sandra Gordillo. I thus decided to scan some of these drawings and share them in a blog post. Here are the pictures!

A drawing of a typical seashell with different labels marking different sections of the shell. The labels read "Apice" ("Apex")，"Linea Sutural" ("Suture Line")，"Anfracto"，"Columela" ("Columella")，"Callo" ("Callus")，"Abertura" ("Opening") and "Canal Sinfonal" ("Symphonal Channel").
A drawing of a "Mulinia edulis" specimen: diagrams of the front and back of an oval valve leaflet with faint smooth growth lines. A label reading "Condroforo" ("Chondrophorus") marks the apex of the bottom side of the shell. A tiny tick mark labeled "1 centimeter" marks the scale of the diagram.
“Mulinia edulis” specimen
A drawing of a "Falsilunatia limbata" specimen: a globose seashell with a convex spiral，not very prominent. A tiny tick mark labeled "1 centimeter" marks the scale of the diagram.
“Falsilunatia limbata” specimen
A drawing of a "Trophon geversianus" specimen: a tick trochoid seashell with pronounced growth striations. A tiny tick mark labeled "1 centimeter" marks the scale of the diagram.
“Trophon geversianus” specimen
A drawing of an "Adelomelon ancilla" specimen: a fusiform，thick and relatively large seashell. High conical spire with slightly convex edges. A tiny tick mark labeled "1 centimeter" marks the scale of the diagram.
“Adelomelon ancilla” specimen
A drawing of a typical centolla，a large king crab，reads "Centolla".

I really don’t have much to add to the drawing themselves. I tried to write detailed descriptions of the diagrams — which are mostly based on the descriptions provided by the book itself — to make the post more accessible. I suppose the only comment I have to add is the following remark: if you ever have the pleasure of visiting Patagonia, don’t miss the chance to try the excellent centolla soup! 🦀🥣