Hello,

     I have a question for the Cypraeidae experts out there.  In my collection, I have the
following specimen (with data from original label):

     Zoila friendii deep water form
     Gray 1831
     Cervantes Island, Western Australia
     Found by diver at 20 metres on sponge
     83mm

I've compared it with the following typical specimen (with data from original label):

     Zoila friendii Gray 1831
     Garden Island, South Western Australia
     By diver, on sponge, at 20 meters.
     79mm

The specimen from Cervantes Island is much more inflated in appearance than the typical the Garden
Island specimen.  Furthermore the Cervantes Island shell has a bluish dorsum with overlying
brownish spotting, the margins are lighter in color (edged with dark brown) and noticeably
spotted.  The anterior canal is less rostrated than in the Garden Island shell.  The base of the
shell is brown with light tan near the margin and extremities.
     I see from maps that Cervantes Island is farther to the north than Garden Island.  My
questions are as follows:

1. Do the known ranges of Z. friendii friendii and Z. friendii vercoi overlap?
2. If so, by how much?
3. Do Z. friendii friendii and Z. friendii vercoi occupy the same habitat within the same range?
4. My Cervantes Island specimen seems to fit the criteria for vercoi as listed in Lorenz and
   Hubert.  Could my Cervantes Island specimen be a vercoi?

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance and I'll look forward to
hearing from you soon. :)

Sincerely,
Tim Blackwood

Timothy J. Blackwood
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: (218)328-6272
Home Address:
120 N.W. 5th Street Apt. #101
Cohasset, Minnesota, USA 55721

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