Dear Martin,

You should consult Records of the Australian Museum, supplement 8 of 29
April 1988 titled A Revision of the Indo-West Pacific Fossil and Recent
Species  of Murex s.s. and Haustellum (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae) by
W. F. Ponder and E. H. Vokes.  It describes Murex spectabilis on pages 76-78
with photos in black and white.  Mal de Mer ( [log in to unmask]) has
this book listed in their latest catalog at $55.

location range:  All type material from the Philippines. One record from
Thailand.
habitat:  No info based on a quick scan of the description.
size range:  shells discussed are 87 to 135mm long.
color:  bluish grey: spiral cords and spines golden to pinkish brown;
apertural lips white, with dark brown spots in notches; interior of shell
pinkish brown with darker brown lirations.
general description: close to M. pecten, but has fewer spines.  Spines more
strongly recurved than other species in the M. pecten group, and protoconch
has only one and a half whorls rather than two to two and one half whorls.

Hope this info helps.

V/R
Bill Fenzan
Norfolk, VA
USA
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, July 31, 1999 9:37 AM
Subject: Murex spectabilis


>Does anyone have any information of Murex spectabilis (Ponder and
>Vokes,1988)...location range, habitat size range, color and general
>description? I am drawing a blank on my books. Roland Houart, in his volume
>Illustrated Catalogue of Recent Species of Muricidae Nmed Since 1971, lists
>the species but that is all. No picture and no description.
>
>Thanks
>
>Martin Tremor
>St. Petersburg, Fl
>