Not too surprising that a juvenile Strombus was classified as a
different species, considering how different from the adults they
look.  On three separate occasions, people have sent me unidentified
Conus specimens which turned out to be juvenile Strombus (two S.
luhuanus and one S. bulla).  However, Strombus aren't the only
species to have been misnamed in this way.  Someone also sent me an
unidentified olive shell, which was actually an immature Cypraea
arabica.  You wouldn't think this would happen with a cone shell, but
it did.  Conus pulcher is a large species from west Africa.  Not only
were the colorful, glossy juveniles of this species given a different
name (Conus papilionaceus), but the large old adults were also
described as a separate species (Conus prometheus).  I guess no-one
noticed that ALL the known specimens of C. prometheus were big, and
ALL the C. pulcher were medium-sized??
Paul M.