Karl Heinz Beckmann Libri

This comprehensive book on the land snails of the Balearic Islands comprises the full description of the 156 recent as well as the nine quaternary species up to now known from this archipelago, including a full synonymy. The highly diverse genus Xerocrassa is covered in detail including all known subspecies occurring on the islands. The same applies for Allognathus and the subgenus Iberellus. However, the author admits that it was not possible to find a satisfactory classification of this highly variable latter group in the frame of this work. The bibliography spans over 20 pages including all rare and ancient literature dealing with the molluscs of these islands. An appendix with six papers by Karl-Heinz Beckmann, Hans D. Boeters, Gerhard Falkner, Peter Glöer, Josep Quintana, Emilio Rolán, Andrzej Wiktor and Michael L. Zettler contains the descriptions of nine new species from the genera Pseudamnicola, Radix, Bithynia, Islamia and Oxychilus as well as the re-description of “Limax majoricensis”. Finally, Yves Terryn gives a summary, Javier Conde de Saro a Résumen of the book, before Klaus and Christina Groh compose a Vita of Karl-Heinz Beckmann who died after finishing this book.