These two news items are bound by threads most delicate.  They have both been brought to my
attention in the last couple weeks by members of our group, and they both involve North
American freshwater gastropods of the superfamily Cerithioidea:

1) Tamara Anderson is trying to gather current information on the U.S. distribution of
Melanoides tuberculata.  Burch (1980) lists the critter from Florida, Texas and Arizona.  A map
from a USGS web site also shows occurrences in Louisiana and other scattered western locations.
If anyone has observations of M. tuberculata populations, either unpublished or published in the
gray literature, Tamara would like to hear from you.  She’d appreciate any suggestions from the
group regarding contacts (or references) for this species.  Zap her directly at:
tander@trib.com

2) Chuck Lydeard down in Tuscaloosa has a postdoctoral position available immediately to study
the phylogeography of aquatic organisms from the Upper Coosa basin of Tennessee, Georgia, and
Alabama.  Chuck tells me he’s especially interested in Goniobasis (or “Elimia”) caelatura, but the
person he’ll be hiring will also spend time on unionids, crayfish, and finfish.  He writes:

The successful candidate must have a strong background in molecular systematics and
conservation genetics preferably with experience studying invertebrate taxa.  The position is for
TWO YEARS provided expected funding is received from the granting agency for the second
year and the applicant makes satisfactory progress on the proposed research.  Applicants should
send a curriculum vitae with the names and contact information of three references to:
Charles Lydeard,
Biodiversity & Systematics,
Department of Biological Sciences, Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL  35487
clydeard@bama.ua.edu
http://www.as.ua.edu/biology

Keep in touch,
Rob