This guide has been constructed from the text of Beu & Maxwell (1990), with the figures individually scanned to be able to access them alongside the relevant text. The names and some comments on relationships have been updated as much as possible with taxonomic changes that have been published on Mollusca during the intervening 20 years. This includes publications on New Zealand Mollusca (particularly Maxwell 1992, and Maxwell 2009 and Spencer et al. 2009) as well as many papers published overseas. The relevant publications have been added into the references cited. The classification of Mollusca, and especially of gastropods, has been the subject of a great deal of research, largely based on molecular phylogeny, over the last 10-15 years, and we have tried to take all this into account. The classification of gastropods, and particularly the enormous superfamily Conoidea, has proved very complex to resolve, and is still in a state of flux. We follow Bouchet et al. (2005) for the broad classification. Puillandre et al. (2008) have attempted the first major study of conoidean molecular phylogeny, and give some idea of the difficulties still to be resolved.
The arrangement of taxa is by age, matching the original monograph chapters. Where names have changed from those used by Beu & Maxwell (1990), the former names are indicated under the chapter headings. A few new names are in press elsewhere; we disclaim the present work as the source of these new names. New combinations in this work are marked by an asterisk*. The revised descriptions are intended to be incorporated together with paleo-ecological and stratigraphic information in a comprehensive online checklist of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca, currently being developed.
Please refer to the monograph for further background information, including explanations of terms. Other sources of information include:
Cite this publication as:
"A.G. Beu and J.I. Raine (2009).
Revised descriptions of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca from Beu and Maxwell
(1990).
GNS Science miscellaneous series no. 27."
© GNS Science, 2009
ISBN 978-0-478-19705-1
ISSN 1177-2441
(Included with a PDF facsimile of New Zealand Geological Survey
Paleontological Bulletin 58 in CD version from: Publications Officer, GNS
Science, P.O. Box
30368 Lower Hutt, New Zealand)