Type localities.--Gorgan, Golestan Province, Iran (Zacheus hyrcanus); Lahidjan, Gilan Province, Iran (Platybunus pusillus); Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran (Metadasylobus dentichelis).
Maps were created by plotting the traces of the seaway from various times in the Cretaceous and plotting the
type localities for the same times on the Tapestry map, which showed areas that have been heavily sampled.
Despite the high number of species within the genus, most
type localities are well defined mainly thanks to the work of the eminent taxonomist Oldfield Thomas who described 27 species and 8 subspecies of tucotucos today accepted as valid (Hill, 1990; Bidau, 2006, 2009).
Distribution.--Known only from the
type localities (Fig.
The title, although unwieldy, says it all: this book offers extremely thorough accounts of all mineral species whose
type localities lie in Switzerland--there are 64 of these--and just-as-detailed accounts of another 23 species which were named after Swiss citizens, though their
type localities lie in other countries.
The genus Asiotmethis should be revised, using not only museum material, but also new material to be collected from the
type localities and the other distributional areas.
These include
type localities of many fossil species.
Additional collecting in both
type localities brought to light males of these species.
Future analysis of specimens from
type localities as well as of type specimens and broad sampling across the geographic range of the genus, are needed to solve the taxonomy of the group.
Italy holds the fourth position in terms of
type localities for species recognized by the International Mineralogical Association, with about 240 mineral species.
Britvin, reviewing "The history of mineral discoveries," found that the United States contains the
type localities for the most species (637), followed by the former Soviet Union (573, of which 448 came from Russia), Germany (255), Italy (203), Canada (167), Sweden (162), Australia (109), France (104), Zaire (93), Mexico (83), China (76), Chile (71), Namibia (68), Greenland (65) and Norway (56).
Franklin and Sterling Hill, the
type localities for no less than 69 mineral species, rank unquestionably among the world's most extraordinary and fascinating mineralized areas.
