Among the Conidae, Conus ventricosus leads the pack with at least 91 junior synonyms and more being added by conchologists of today (e.g., C. guanche Lauer, 1993 for the Canary Island population).  Despite all this no one has taken the time to collect preserved specimens of this common species from throughout the range and look at DNA's and shell morphology.  My bet is that DNA for geographic regions are all close.

Yours,


John K. Tucker
-----Original message-----
From: David Campbell [log in to unmask]
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:34:23 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: synonyms

> //  The molluscan record for having been described the most, hence having the largest collection of monikers, may go to Conus ventricosus Gmelin 1791 (often known as Conus mediterraneus Hwass, 1792), which as the only cone in Mediterranean waters and highly variable at that, has accumulated perhaps as many as 100 synonyms over the past couple of hundred years.<

Anodonta cygnea, a common, variable freshwater mussel in Europe, is
estimated to have several hundred synonyms and may hold the record for
all taxa.  There are at least a couple of related species that have
been lumped under cygnea at various times, and I do not know what a
current breakdown of the synonyms would be for each name.

--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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