hello L'ers,

I have to agree with Paul and everyone else on 8 of Jim's shells.  Makua
Bob's observations about Cypraea ventriculus are correct, but if the base
of the shell shown in the photo is the same as the two dorsal photos,
then they are surely faded C. caputserpentis.  C. ventriculus doesn't fade
evenly, and a long-dead specimen will still be very dark on the base and
margins, and the middle of the dorsum will erode or fade to white.  They
are still pretty shells, even if they've been on the beach for some time.

Andrew Sharpe is also correct that #8 looks nothing like C. mappa.
Nevertheless, that is almost certainly what it is.  Quite often the juvies
don't look much like the adult shell.  The other candidate for a shell
that size would be Cypraea vitellus, except that they typically show
the characteristic spotting by the time the teeth begin to form.  Like
C. arabica, C. eglantina shows "zig-zag" patterning from the time it is
in the bulla stage until the shell lays down the final adult pattern.  The
juvenile patterning is usually not as strong in C. eglantina, but is never
absent in the specimens I've seen.  The "frosted" or overglazed shells
are always adults, since the reason they become overglazed is that
they are continuing to add layers on top of the dorsum, thickening the
shell.  The shell in the photo is definitely a juvenile, only about to start
thickening the shell.

No zig-zag markings like C. arabica/C. eglantina, no dorsal banding
as in juvenile C. carneola/C. leviathan, no spotting as in young C.
vitellus or C. lynx, so I agree with Bob Dayle that it must be C. mappa.

Happy 2001 to all,




A.


Andrew Sharpe  wrote:

Number 8 looks like a eglantina , I think they call it "frosted form", I have
a few in my collection identical to it. you never find a good one. It looks
nothing like a mappa to me. Number 7 looks just like the extremely shrewd Paul
Monfils says " a very beach worn caputserpentis "

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Bobbi Cordy
  To: [log in to unmask]
  Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 4:27 PM
  Subject: Re: Guam Cypraea


  1. Cypraea carneola
  2. Cypraea helvola
  3. Cypraea moneta
  4. Cypraea lynx
  5. Cypraea cylendrica
  6. Cypraea carneola
  7. Cypraea caputserpentis
  8. Cypraea eglantina - unusual color
  "James Emmett, DVM" wrote:



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