On 9/11/2010 I posted the following on Conch-L:

"P. trilineata supposedly has a range from North Carolina to Florida. I’ve never found it in Florida. Lee (Marine Shells of Northeast Florida 2009) reports this shell, but Mikkelsen & Bieler (Seashells of Southern Florida - Bivalves 2008) and Redfern (Bahamian Seashells 2001) do not. Anyone have any first-hand experience collecting this shell in Florida?"

9/12 Jim Brunner from the Florida panhandle reported:

"We have three specimens from the Panama City area. One from the drift line in St andrews Sound at 22.9mm. Two from scallop boats at 26.1 and 24.6mm. We also know of at least two other in the Barfield collection that we are currently tending."

And, on 9/13 Jim added:

"A re-inventory indicates we have at least 12 specimens; most from very shallow water."

9/13 Jeff Ward (member of Jaxs Shell Club for 30 years) replied:

"This bivalve is not the easiest to find, but I have collected 6 of them from Big Talbot Island. They prefer a muddy-sandy substrate and not a lot of wave action. You can get them at extreme low tide by hand dredging. They range in size 25mm to 28mm. I have not found any in the high tide area."

9/13 José H. Leal, Director and Curator The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum reported:

"The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum has 12 complete shells (paired valves, soon to be catalogued) of Pandora (tri)lineata (of authors), dredged by Jim Moore in 1969, off Boca Grande, at 13 m depth." (Note: Boca Grande is on the island of Gasparilla, Lee County, Florida.)

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Kevin: 

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I have also found P. trilineata on the deck of a fairly small surf clam dredgeboat docked in Hyannis, Massachusetts harbor. The dredge containing the shell was a "clean" essentially muck-free coarse quartz/feldspar type sand. This does not prove a range extention above North Carolina, but it suggests it. This did not look like a boat that was going to travel as far as North Carolina to dredge for Spisula. It seems more likely that it dredged the closer fertile grounds south of Nantucket/Martha's Vineyard (East of New Jersey). However, I am no boat expert so I can't say for sure. I can say that many shells once listed as occuring only as far north as North Carolina are now being found as far north as New Jersey. Wish I could have tracked the boat owner down for something more definitive in the dredge location.