Having been watching Angaria in dealers' sites and in auctions, it
becomes apparent that all specimens are merely part of a wide range
of  morphology and color. The so-called "species" are merely grades,
not clades. Therefore there is but one species, A. delphinus (Linne
1758). Other names should not be used except as a convenience, but
should be labelled, for instance: A. delphinus  (Linne 1758)
"sphaerula".

Does anyone know whether any expert has attempted cladistic or
molecular work on the genus? He'd need a huge sample of specimens to
cover the full range.

The colors exhibited by many specimens (bright pinks, magenta, lurid
greens) are very odd, and a few are showing in other turbinids eg
magentas in "Astralium" spp. Older pictures of Angaria "sphaerula" do
not seem to  show such colors, and I have wondered whether they are a
very recent innovation by the snails. If this is the case, could the
colors be due to the animals extracting some elements from seawater
which have been introduced to the ecosystem by human-generated eg
manufacturing pollution?
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
‚ Opinions stated are mine, not those of Otago University
"There is water at the bottom of the ocean"  - Talking Heads

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