It was a chilly day in late February when Kevin Cummings found an unexpected package in his mailbox: an advance copy of his new book, Freshwater Mollusks of the World: A Distribution Atlas.
Nearly four years earlier, snail expert Chuck Lydeard had contacted Kevin to see if he would be interested in helping compile the atlas. Lydeard’s vision was to create the first comprehensive summary of systematic and biodiversity information on the world’s 43 freshwater mollusk (snail, mussel, and clam) families.
As a renowned expert on freshwater mussels, Lydeard thought Kevin— an Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) scientist and curator of mollusks—would make a great co-author.
Lydeard and Kevin dove into the project feet first. Read about the Freshwater Mollusks project.
