Dick & Enzo,

I am not a cone expert, either.

The significance of the date 1981 is probably that Dieter Röckel wrote an
article in La Conchiglia discussing the controversy surrounding which name
to use for the common cone found in the Mediterranean.  In this article, Dr.
Röckel presents both sides of the issue.  He concludes that C. ventricosus
is the valid name.

He wrote a another article the next year in Hawaiian Shell News, which is
available as a .pdf online, illustrating a specimen of the shell next to
Kämmerer's drawing which had been designated by Kohn as the lectotype figure
for C. ventricosus.  The point he was making in this article is that the
species can grow as large as the  dimensions of the original drawing and the
specimen illustrated is very similar to the drawing.

I think Enzo is wondering if this view is supported by subsequent workers.
Currently, the Iconography volume cited below is a widely used reference
that also supports use of the name C. ventricosus over C. mediterraneus.  In
fact, I see no discussion of the earlier controversy on usage of the name C.
ventricosus. This usage was also supported earlier by Filmer (2001) without
discussion.

Even so, there are still people who still use the name C. mediterraneus
despite the fact that it is confusing.  I am not aware of any written
justification for using this name (mediterraneus) that is as comprehensive
and convincing as the case for using C. ventricosus, so I use C.
ventricosus.

Regards,

Bill Fenzan
Norfolk, Virginia, USA


References:
Röckel, D. 1981.Conus mediterraneus or Conus ventricosus?  La Conchiglia,
13(144-145, March-April), pp.18-19.
Röckel, D. 1982. The case of Conus ventricosus Gmelin.  Hawaiian Shell News,
30(1, January), p. 5.
Monteiro, A., Tenorio, M. J., and Poppe, G. 2004. The family CONIDAE: The
West African and Mediterranean species of Conus, A Conchological
Iconography. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. pp. 102 + 164 pl.
Filmer, R. M. 2001. A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living
Conidae 1758-1998. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.  pp. 388.

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