malacology>staff>mclean

James McLean: Emeritus Curator
e-mail: jmclean@nhm.org

BA Zoology: Wesleyan University, 1958
Ph.D. Zoology: Stanford University, 1966

Dr. McLean became curator of mollusks in 1964, just prior to the completion of his Ph.D. at Stanford University. He retired in 2001, but keeps his same office as an emeritus curator and remains active in order to continue his research. His work has focused on the systematics of marine gastropods, including the Patellogastropoda and Vetigastropoda, particularly the families Trochidae, Turbinidae, as well as the family Turridae. Following the discovery of hydrothermal vent communities in 1977, Dr. McLean studied and named a number of limpet families from that community. His interest in the gastropod fauna of the northeast Pacific resulted in the handbook Marine Shells of Southern California (1969, revised, 1978), which is now out-of-print. He is currently working on two volumes that will provide a detailed guide to the shelled marine gastropods occurring in the cold and temperate waters of the northeastern and northwestern Pacific. This will treat over 1800 species, including approximately 400 species recognized as new. The first volume to be completed will treat the species occurring from British Columbia to central Baja California, and the second will treat species that occur between the Kurile Islands, Russia, and those of Alaska. Species from British Columbia will be included in both books.

List of recent publications

1995. Four new genera for northeastern Pacific prosobranch gastropods. The Nautilus 108(2):39-41.

1995. Three additional new genera and two replacement names for northeastern Pacific prosobranch gastropods. The Nautilus 108(3): 80-82.

1995. Methods of collecting and handling marine micromollusks [abstract]. Western Society of Malacologists Annual Report 27:1.

1995. Progress toward revision of the Liotiinae and Colloniinae of the world [abstract]. Western Society of Malacologists Annual Report 27:2.

1995. Review of western Atlantic species of cocculinid and pseudococculinid limpets with descriptions of new species (Gastropoda: Cocculiniformia). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Contributions in Science 453, 33 p., 95 figs. By James H. McLean and M.G. Harasewych.

1996. The Prosobranchia. Pp. 1-v, 1-160, figs. 1-29. In: Scott, P.H., Blake, J.A., and Lissner, A.L. (eds.), Taxonomic Atlas of the Benthic Fauna of the Santa Maria Basin and western Santa Barbara Channel. Volume 9. THe Mollusca Part 2--The Gastropoda. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

1996. Anatomy and systematics of bathyphytophilid limpets (Mollusca, Archaeogastropoda) from the northeastern Pacific. Zoologica Scripta 25(1):35-49. By Gerhard Haszprunar & James H. McLean.

1996. Marine mollusks of Rocas Alijos. In: Schmieder, R.W. (ed.), Rocas Alijos: Scientific Results from the Cordell Expeditions. Kluwere Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. p. 305- 318. By James H. McLean & Eugene V. Coan.

1998. Reinstatement of Williamia subspiralis (Carpenter, 1864) (Gastropoda Siphonariidae). The Veliger 41(3): 243-248.

1998. Notes on the columbellid genus Mazatlania Dall, 1900. The Festivus, 30(11): 117-118.

1998. New genera and species having the  Fissuriseptashell form, with a generic-level phylogenetic analysis(Gastropoda: Fissurellidae). Natural
History Museum, Contributions in Sciences, no. 475, 1-32. By James H. McLean and Daniel L. Geiger.

1999. Suggested generic allocation for a Californian columbellid. The Festivus, 31: 117-118.

2000. Four new genera for northeastern Pacific gastropods. The Nautilus, 114(4): 99-102.

2001. Progress on revision of Liotiinae (Vetigastropoda: Turbinidae) of the world. Abstracts, World Congress of Malacology 2001, Vienna, Austria, p. 418.

2001. Bertram C. Draper, 1904-2000. The Festivus, 33(6): 63-65. By Lindsey Groves and James H. McLean.

2002. The family Dialidae (Gastropoda: Cerithioidea) in the Eastern Pacific. The Festivus, 34(7): 93-96.

2002. Progress toward completion of taxonomic reference manual: Shell-bearing Gastropoda of the Northeastern Pacific. Abstracts, American Malacological Society, Charleston 2002, p. 70.

2002. Odostomiine genera reconsidered: Shell characters versus spermatophore characters. Abstracts, American Malacological Society, Charleston 2002, p. 71.