>>In Abbott's Compendium of Seashells the Florida Horse Conch is labeled as
>>PLEUROPLOCA GIGANTEUS. In the book Florida's Living Beaches by Witherington
>>it is labeled as TRIPLOFUS GIGANTEUS. I have run into this situation
>>several times and I am wondering why....
>>
>>Can someone please help me get through this confusion?
>
>The science of taxonomy, like the science of everything else, is
>constantly changing its mind. The poor old horse conch has been tossed
>from genus Fasciolaria, to Pleuroploca, to (for now) Triplofusus without
>a thought for the poor beast's feelings or preferences. But as long as
>you say "Florida Horse Conch", everyone will know of whom you speak.

Genus-level taxonomy (this includes subgenera) are highly subjective;
I prefer to use Triplofusus as a subgenus of Pleuroploca (which
itself is obviously related very closely to Fasciolaria, and to those
so-called "Fasciolaria" from South Africa... and NOT to "F" lugubris
from the E Atlantic, which belongs to no described genus).

>Well, to add another carrot into the stew, the Horse Conch is now
>also referred to as Pleuroploca papillosa Sowerby I, 1825 according
>to "Fasciolariidae" by Daniel Mallard & Alain Robin (published 2005)

Do the two birdies state the reason for using P. papillosa? I assume
that they have correctly identified Sowerby's type and that therefore
gigantea, the younger synonym, falls. However the name papillosa has
not been used much (if at all) in formal literature, and could be
suppressed by the ICZN.

Another beast usually placed in Fasciolariidae (ie Buccinidae:
Fasciolariinae) is Saginafusus pricei from Australia. However the
shell and opercular characters of this shell fit very well into
Volema (=Hemifusus, Melongena, Cyrtulus) of Buccinidae: Melongeninae.
Hemifusus and Cyrtulus are probably best used as subgenera of Volema;
Saginafusus is probably a synonym og Hemifusus and Melongena an
outright synonym of Volema (compare V. myristica with M. bispinosa
and M. corona; there are no supraspecific differences).

FYI Syrinx aruanus, the largest living shelled gastropod, belongs in
Turbinellidae, not Melongeninae. And the largest known shelled
gastropod is Campanile giganteum from the Paris Basin Eocene,
attaining at least 95cm in length.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
‚ Opinions stated are mine, not those of Otago University
"There is water at the bottom of the ocean"  - Talking Heads

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