Molluscs include bivalves, snails, tusk shells, chitons and cephalopods. Research on fossil bivalves and snails at Museum Victoria is carried out by Dr Thomas Darragh and includes the following projects:
Systematics and origins of the fossil cowry fauna of southern Australia
This project documents the evolution and distribution of cool-water cowries over the last 25 million years and attempts to explain the origin of these endemic forms.
The Eocene molluscan fauna of southern Australia
This project will document the Eocene fauna which extends from southern Western Australia to Victoria. The bivalves and the first part of the gastropods (snails) have already been published and work continues on the remainder. As the Eocene fauna is the earliest comprehensive fauna in southern Australia, this project will assist in shedding light on the origins of the present day mollusc fauna.
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