Shallow water marine molluscan faunas are distributed in a pattern of distinct, geographically definable areas. This makes mollusks ideal for studying the distribution of organisms in the marine environment and the processes and patterns that control their evolution. Biogeography and Biodiversity of Western Atlantic Mollusks is the first book to us

Edward J. Petuch, Ph.D., is a professor of geology in the Department of Geosciences at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where he teaches courses on oceanography, paleontology, and physical geology. Petuch has collected fossil and living mollusks in Australia, Papua-New Guinea, the Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Japan, the Mediterranean coast of Europe, the Bahamas, Mexico, Belize, Brazil, and Uruguay. This research has led to the publication of more than 100 papers. His 14 previous books are well-known research texts within the malacological and paleontological communities.

Introduction: American Molluscan Faunas in Time and Space. The Molluscan Provincial Concept in the Tropical Western Atlantic. Provinces of the Tropical Western Atlantic. Molluscan Biodiversity in the Georgian Subprovince. Molluscan Biodiversity in the Subprovinces of the Florida Peninsula. Southern and Western Subprovinces of the Carolinian Province. Northern Subprovinces of the Caribbean Province. Molluscan Biodiversity in the Nicaraguan Subprovince. Molluscan Biodiversity in the Venezuelan Subprovince. Molluscan Biodiversity in the Grenadian and Surinamian Subprovinces. Northern Subprovinces of the Brazilian Province. Molluscan Biodiversity in the Paulinian Subprovince. Bibliography. Appendices. Index.