Hi all
 
     Petuch lists quite a number of Cypraea from South Florida in his book
     "Atlas of Florida Fossil Shells"  Using his stratigraphic
     designations, they are as follows:
 
     PINCREST FAUNA OF THE TAMIAMI FORMATION:  Siphocypraea cannoni, S.
     trippeana, S. transitoria, S. penningtonorum, S. parodizi, S.
     carolinensis, S. floridana, S. hughesi, S. kissimeensis, S. alligator,
     S. sarasotaensis, S. lindae, S. marilynae, S. crocodila, S.
     hertweckorum, S. ketteri, S. metae, S. kalafuti, S. pilsbryi, S.
     diegelae, Cypraea campbelliana
 
     CALOOSAHATCHEE FAUNA OF THE OKEECHOBEE FORMATION:  Siphocypraea
     mulepenensis and S. problematica
 
     GRIFFIN PIT UNIT OF THE OKEECHOBEE FORMATION:  Siphocypraea griffini
 
     BERMONT UNIT OF THE OKEECHOBEE FORMATION:  Cypraea morinis, C.
     portelli, C. spengleri
 
     FORT THOMPSON UNIT OF THE OKEECHOBEE FORMATION:  Cypraea cervus peilei
 
 
     In the Chipola Fomation of the Florida Panhandle I have found
     Cypraeorbis chilona and Cypraeorbis heilprini.  I have not yet however
     found Cypraeorbis tapeina from the Shoal River Fm.  There are quite a
     number of Eocene cypraeas that I have in some of my reference books
     that I have not found including Sulcocypraea vaughni from Mississippi,
     Sulcocypraea healyi from Alabama and Cypraeorbis ventripotens from
     Lousiana.  I have found several different species of Cypraea from both
     the Ingilis and Crystal River Formations (Ocala Ls.) of Central
     Florida, however most of these are internal casts.  One from the
     Crystal River Fm. I collected in matrix with both the external mold
     and internal cast.  I filled the mold with latex and when it dried was
     able to wrap it around the internal cast.  The original shell had
     heavy spiral lines across the shell (the subgenera escapes me at this
     moment).  I have also collected a species of Cypraea from the
     Oligocene Flint River Fm. of Georgia and received in a trade a Petuch
     described species Cypraeorbis kendrewi from the Oligocene Suwanee
     limestone of Florida.
 
     Michael Reagin
     Cleveland Heights, OH
 
 
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Fossil cypraeids
Author:  Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]> at
Internet-APBiotech-America
Date:    9/29/98 10:18 AM
 
 
Hi David, and Lindsey,
 
>Most of the Pliocene cowries of the southeastern U.S. are Siphocypraea
>carolinensis (Conrad, 1841), including most if not all of the odd "species"
>or "genera" from south Florida.
>
 
I'd like to see this topic stay on Conch-L. It  is of interest to many.
Lots of us are fossil mollusk collectors. And I'd like to hear more about
what actually is carolinensis.  One of the hardest pills I had to swallow
when I first got interested in fossils (brachiopods here in KY, actually)
was the way they change through time and geographical distribution.
 
I have a little fully mature cowrie (37 mmX 20.5mm H X 24mm W) I found in
the APAC pit in 1988 that seems to me to look a lot different from all the
others I collected there. It is much more humped posteriorly, sloping
sharply toward the anterior end, and it has heavy and high lateral calluses
-- 2/3 of the way up on the body whorl side.
 
There is no lateral extension on the callus anteriorly or posteriorly as in
some Siphocypraea (and Zoila). It has sharpish little teeth, 18 on the outer
lip.  I would have to guess it is a Siphocypraea though. It has a rostrate
quality, and that very open, though heavily callused-over, posterior canal,
similar to a real mature C. tigris. No fossula has developed.  Aperture
widens anteriorly. It was identified at the collecting locality by Ed Petuch
as  "sarasotaensis."  Any ideas?
 
Lynn Scheu
Louisville, KY