"Detailing three marine molluscan faunal provinces (Carolinian, Caribbean, and Brazilian), this volume examines the distribution and evolutionary patterns of the marine mollusks of the tropical and subtropical regions of the western Atlantic Ocean. It also covers the paleobiogeography of the tropical Americas, discussing the ancestral biogeographical regions that gave rise to the recent provincial and subprovincial arrangements. These biogeographical patterns are essential for understanding the evolution of modern continental shelf marine faunas, as they reflect the environmental and climatological histories of the entire oceanic basin. The book's color plates make it a highly desirable resource for marine biologists and malacologists"--