Download or read book Origin and Evolutionary Radiation of the Mollusca written by Malacological Society of London. Centenary Symposium and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mollusca are a large, diverse, and economically important group that ranges from slugs and snails through clams and oysters to octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. They are evolutionarily ancient and better known than most invertebrate groups because of their calcareous skeletons, which has led to their excellent preservation as fossils. This is a state-of-the-art summary of research into Molluscs and their evolution, including recent developments in phylogenetic analysis and molecular techniques. Since the last book on this topic was published in 1985, the vast amount of updated information found here should be on the bookshelf of every zoologist, evolutionary biologist, and taxonomist.