Marsha,

What does Guido's Iconography do with this taxon? I don't have it. My
only news is old news:

Eddie Hardy's  marvelous Internet Guide to Marine Gastropods lists these
two references for Harpa conoidalis:

 Shells of the World - Volume 2 (in Japanese)  78a/ 6
 Hamlyn Guide to Shells of the World  220

I have both the 1955 and 1959 editions of the Japanese book, but it IS
in Japanese, and I don't read it. It's pictured there. And treated as a
full species. But that's no answer.

Jerry Walls' 1980 Conchs, Tibias and Harps lists H. conoidalis as a
synonym of H. davidis.

Tucker Abbott's Standard catalogue lists three Harpa conoidalis, all
synonyms:

H. conoidalis Lamarck, 1822 = H. major Roding, 1798
H. conoidalis Gravely, 1942 is H. davidis Roding, 1798
H. conoidalis Reeve, 1843 = ventricosa Lamarck, 1816.

The first listed is the usual, I think.

So we have a contradiction.

The Indo-Pacific Mollusca monograph (Nov. 27, 1973) by Harald Rehder of
the United States National Museum, lists the Lamarck taxon as a synonym
of H. major. Here is what Rehder said:

"Nomenclature: This species is one of the most variable in the genus and
consequently a great deal of confusion has arisen concerning its proper
name. Recent workers (Wagner and Abbott pp. 115-116 [earlier edition of
Standard Catalogue] have equated major Roding with ventricosa Lamarck,
and conoidalis Lamarck with davidis Roding, a confusion that dates back
to Lamarck, who placed references now assigned to major under his
ventricosa...."

Later Rehder says, "The type of Harpa conoidalis Lamarck cannot be found
in the museum in Geneva and may be in existence in France."

A quick look through the French Association of Conchology turned up
then-editor Franck Frydman's lavishly illustrated article on Harpidae
(April-June, 1990 Num. 50: 10-21), including a picture of two specimens
of "Harpa major cf. Harpa conoidalis from French Frigate Reef, Hawaii.
Franck, a devoted and knowledgeable harp collector, said, "The specimens
from Hawaii (French Freigate Reef) are sometimes called conoidalis with
no substantial reason; however, their dominant bright red color and the
large number of black lines on the ribs are typical of this area." (p.
19)

And that is all I have turned up so far.

Lynn Scheu
Louisville, KY