Last year was again a fruitful year with a wide range of lectures, attended by about a dozen of active members from all Flemish provinces. The list of activities speaks for itself. Remarkable was the variety of topics and speakers who made the meetings so exciting. Various topics from the world of shells were continuously discussed for three hours on Sunday morning and even in the afternoon, shells were often identified with a limited number of members.
We regret the unexpected decease of Gerard Venken at the age of 61. Our friend from Hasselt was regularly present at the monthly meetings. He even locally passed the night at Saturdays before the meetings, an example followed by other friends from Limburg later on. Gerard found a warm company here. In the small but tight circle that forms the BVC Coast, he also became a kind of ‘home photographer’ at the monthly meetings. We never could presume that the slide show of his collection in May was a way of saying goodbye to this earthly existence.
The list of activities in 2015
– 18 January:
* Statutory meeting with the reading of the annual report (F. Nolf);
* Comments and critical notes on two new issues of the magazine ‘Neptunea’ (F. Nolf);
* The confusion caused by a probably new species of Donax from Dakhla (Western Sahara) (F. Nolf);
* A critical analysis of our website (F. Nolf, Steve Hubrecht, Paul Verstraete, …);
* About an unfair Chinese dealer active on the worldwide web (F. Nolf, Dirk De Boe, P. Anseeuw, …);
* Official start of the new activities with snacks and champagne (Mrs. Nolf).
– 15 February:
* The difference between Natica bouvieri and Natica canariensis (West Africa) (PowerPoint presentation by F. Nolf)
* Study of the world map with the different seashell areas (F. Nolf);
* Slide show of the previous meeting by G. Venken;
* The organization of a shell collection by means of a database system (4th Dimension) (F. Nolf);
* More information about “Donax prolongatus’ from South Africa and Western Sahara (F. Nolf).
– 29 March:
* Donax longissimus and Donax burnupi: presentation of the final results as published in ‘Neptunea;
* Natica canariensis and Natica bouvieri: presentation of the final results as published in ‘Neptunea;
* Presentation of some acquisitions at the Shell Show in Paris (J. Verstraeten);
* Spergo parunculis Stahlschmidt, Chino & Fraussen, 2015: presentation of several paratypes of this new species from SW Madagascar in the collections of F. Nolf & J. Verstraeten;
* Examination of not yet described species of the genus Glabella from Angola (F. Nolf).
– 12 April:
* The variability of Buccinum undatum: examination of specimens from Denmark (Dora The Cremer);
* Fusiturris amianta, Tomellana hupferi and some related species of West Africa (J. Verstraeten and F. Nolf);
* A movie about diving for Turbo cornutus on Jeju Island (South Korea).
– 3 May:
* ‘Experiences with collecting and organizing my collection after thirty years: pro and contra” (slide show with commentary by G. Venken);
* Is there an urgent need for taxonomists worldwide?: debate initiated by an online blog (P. Anseeuw).
– 7 June:
* Report on a shell expedition to Zanzibar by Dirk & Mo De Boe;
* Comments on the Shell Show at Antwerp;
* Presentation of new books and issues of periodicals, among others the ‘Bivalvia Compendium Part II’ of M. Huber with a reference to the discussion about Donax longissimus and Donax burnupi.
– 23 August:
* The ‘Panglao’ expedition with hundreds of digital images presented by Y. Terryn.
– 6 September:
* Two new species in the genus Perotrochus (PLEUROTOMARIIDAE) from New Caledonia (P. Anseeuw) discussed on the basis of shells from the collection F. Nolf;
* The geographic distribution of Testudinalia testudinalis (J. Verstraeten);
* The true identity of Buccinum hydrophanum and B. finmarchianum (F. Nolf);
* The results of a trip to Corsica (P. Verstraete);
* A look into new books and issues of periodicals.
– 4 October:
* Report on a search for marine molluscs and land snails in the Provence (South France) and comments on a visit to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco (PowerPoint presentation by S. Hubrecht);
* Presentation of two new issues of the magazine “Neptunea”.
– 15 November:
* Report of a quest for shells in Dakhla (Western Sahara) by S. Hubrecht, Rika Goethaels and F. De Donder;
* Projection of a video movie about shells and other structures in the animal world;
* The genus Tomellana (CLAVATULIDAE) in West-Africa (PowerPoint presentation by F. Nolf);
* News from the London Shell Show.
– 6 December:
* A lecture on a diving trip to São Tomé (Gulf of Guinea) (slideshow, photographs and shells) by Jean-Etienne Ghyoot;
* About the petition to protect the right to keep a personal collection (PowerPoint presentation by S. Hubrecht);
* New insights to the systematics of the TEREBRIDAE (PowerPoint presentation by Y. Terryn).
Neptunea 