The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) says:
> "Recommendation 72B: External evidence admitted.--If an author, in
> establishing a nominal species-group taxon, does not explicitly state what
> specimens constitute the type series, evidence in addition to published
> evidence may be taken into account (e.g., labels by the original author and
> specimens known to have been in appropriate collections at the appropriate
> time.)
> "Appropriate time" to me means "before the final version of the description
> was submitted for publication". Thus, specimens that might have helped form
> the author's published concept of the species are part of the type series,
> unless the author explicitly excluded them.
 
Thank you Dr. Rosenberg
 
   It seems to me, it may be impossible for someone to positively
identify a paratype.  Shells do move to other collections and data
labels do become changed.  A detailed description would obviously be
helpful.
   The reason for my questions arose from a situation where I was
supposed to get a certain shell.  Before the transaction was made;
someone had informed the seller that it was a paratype.  In resonse, I
found the original description where only one paratype was mentioned and
the shell did not match its description.  In the end, I did not get the
shell.
 
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