The article by Don Barclay and Wes Thorsson in the October HSN caused me to
look at my collection and database. I am not an expert in this area, have
merely collated what I could find in the literature, and I hope I'm not
adding further typos or confusion.

The classification of the Muricidae in Vaught (1989) is rather obsolete;
the classification by Emily Vokes of December, 1996 is on the Web at:

http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/ev-muric.html

The current opinions of Roland Houart differ slightly.

According to both Emily Vokes and Wilson (1994) ochrostoma is in the genus
Pascula (subfamily Ergalataxinae).

The species is widely illustrated but has been confused with others that
are really not very similar.
         Fair (1976) figure 235 as nitens which is a synonym.
         Kay (1979) Figure 87B. [Figure 87A "elata" is cornus according to
Vokes}
         Springsteen & Leobrera (1986) P39 Fig 13
         Kaicher card N. 2594 as nitens
         Kilburn & Rippey (1982) Plate 19 fig. 8
         Trondle & Houart in Apex 7 (1992) figure 103 as sp.
         Wilson (1994) Vol 2 Plate 5 fig 12. This plate is probably the
best for comparing species (except for fragum).
         Steyn et al (1998) N 35

         Cernohorsky (1978) page 70, as pointed out in HSN,
"corrects"  Plate 35 fig 2 in his Vol II to "female cornus". But Trondle &
Houart, 1992 correct that further to fragum. Trondle & Houart point out
that according to investigation of the soft parts, there is no sexual
dimorphism.
In the same paragraph, WOC maintains that cornus is very variable, but I'm
not at all sure about that. All the cornus I've ever seen look just like
Wilson Plate 4 fig 14A/B: all white with unmistakable large sharp nodules.

Drupella rugosa and fragum are the ones that are confusing and hard to
separate. They are in the subfamily Rapaninae. And unsurprisingly, Fair,
Springsteen, and Wilson all call fragum a synonym of rugosa. But Vokes
deems it valid, and  Trondlle & Houart illustrated fragum in Figure 69-71
(I have some trouble believing that figs 70 and 71 are the same species...)
and rugosa in fig. 72. The aperture of fragum is white, whereas in rugosa
it varies from yellow to orangeish to violet, but I'm not sure all of mine
are identified correctly.

triangulata Pease is a synonym of fiscella (Muricodrupa) according to Kay,
the Compendium, Vokes, and Houart, 1994

Is this taxonomy fun, or what?

John Wolff
2640 Breezewood Dr.
Lancaster, PA 17601
717-569-6955