Aloha Chris,
Did you mean beddomei rather than couderti?
Type material exists for both C. ziczac and C. beddomei. Color photos of
the types can be viewed on Alan Kohn's website (
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/conus/index.php ). You can download a
copy of the original description of C. beddomei from this site as an Adobe
Acrobat document (.pdf file).
The shell or shells used to describe C. couderti were said to have been in
the collection of Coudert when the species was described. I can find no
record of where this material is now, if it still exists. Consequently, all
that is available to define the species C. couderti are printed copies of
Bernardi's original description. Coomans, Moolenbeek & Wills (1985)
illustrate the figures (dorsal and ventral views) from the original
description.
Comparison of type material images leads me to believe that C. ziczac is not
the correct name for C. couderti.
Examination of these figures leads me (and others who have studied this
problem) to believe C. couderti Bernardi, 1860 is best considered a synonym
of C. erythraeensis Reeve, 1843. The population center for C. erythraeensis
is the Red Sea - not the west Atlantic.
The type locality for C. ziczac Mu(with umlaut)hlfeld, 1816 was established
by the author as "Mediterranean Sea". Alan Kohn (1992) concluded that the
C. ziczac holotype is a shell from the western Atlantic.
It is interesting to read in the original description of C. beddomei (from
Alan Kohn's website) that the holotype of C. beddomei was originally labeled
"C. ziczac Muhlf, West Indies" in the collection of C. E. Beddome. Sowerby
III dismisses this and concludes, based on study of a figure, that C. ziczac
is "... nothing but a form of C. mediterraneus." It may very well be that
Beddome's label was correct.
Bill Fenzan
Norfolk, Virginia, USA
References:
Coomans, H. E., Moolenbeek, R. G. & Wils, E., 1985. Alphabetical revision
of the (sub) species in recent Conidae 7. cingulatus to cylindraceus,
including Conus shikamai nomen novem. Basteria, 48: 270-271 & 307, figs
546a & 546b.
Kohn, A. J., 1992. A Chronological Taxonomy of Conus, 1758-1840. Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington and London. pp. 315
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Takahashi" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: some quick conus questions
> Aloha Bill,
> Wouldn't Conus ziczac Mühlfeld,1816 be a correct name for couderti since
> it
> was described 44 years earlier? CHRIS:)
>
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