ahem ......
actually, Chimaeria incomparabilis, although it was described as a
cypraeid, is evidently an ovulid. Fehse has published on it and associated
it to fossil ovulid groups.
It may be argued that it was originally placed in cypraeids (despite its
very evident ovulid morphology) due to commercial reasons ..... After all,
an ovulid would hardly be sold at 20,000 US$


At 10.06 22/12/2005 -0200, you wrote:
>The most expensive shell I've heard was a Cypraea (Chimaeria incomparabilis)
>from Somalia. It was sold at US$ 20,000 - but I am not sure if anyone would
>pay that price today.
>
>Marcus
>
>
>Marcus Coltro
>WWW.FEMORALE.COM
>
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Marco Oliverio - Evolutionary Biology PhD
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