> Note that I place formosa as a valid species and not a subspecies of
> delphinus. They both live sympatric and there are enough conchological
> differences between the two. Formosa is very common and also occurs from
> Japan to Australia (more or less the same than delphinus). They both are
> very varaible but I don't know intermediates. Maybe neglecta is the
> Japanese
> formosa, and maybe lilianae (described by me and my brother) is a Thai
> formosa, but both are different, not only in color but also in shell
> shape.
> it is true that lilianae is a rare species (or form??) and is seldom seen
> or
> offered, but this doesn't make it invalid.


Dear Kevin,
after looking at my collection again I must admit that placing formosa as a
species of its own seems to make some sense. I have only one or two shells
that I might place somewhere inbetween...
But I do not think that neglecta could be the Japanese form of formosa
because neglecta seems to have very few variation (sometimes brighter,
sometimes darker, sometimes with spines a bit longer or shorter...that's it)
and there seems to be a population of the "classical" formosa in Japanese
waters. I've seen pictures of it on http://www.bigai.ne.jp.
My third point is that I don't want to doubt the validity of lilianae - I
just don't think I'm able to give a judgement because all I've seen are the
four pictures in the description. I'm still very keen on getting my hands on
the "real thing". (To all the shell dealers out there: wink wink ;). )

Greetings, Roland

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