Hi Brooke and Interested Parties,

Tom gave you some pretty good advice, especially if the
person you got the shell from is an established shell
dealer.  If you got it from one of the internet auction sites,
I would be a little more skeptical.  I have seen a lot of
misidentifications on these sites, and some very obvious
fabrication of collection data.

That said, Conus terebra is a fairly variable species, but
not as variable as many species.  I dug out most of my
specimens, and they are all easily identifiable as C. terebra.
The two pale yellow bands are a good hint, but not all of
them have the bands.  A more consistent characteristic is
the purple protoconch, sometimes followed by a white whorl
or two, and then a couple more early whorls that are purple.
This characteristic shows up on all but one of the specimens
that I have, though I don't have one that was collected in
Okinawa.  The single exception is obviously C. terebra, as
the shape and sculpture are exactly the same, but the entire
shell is a low-gloss paper-bag beige.

Spire shape is a good characteristic to use if you have a lot
of shells from the same locality, but there are always shells
that individually don't follow the norms.  None of my specimens
have angulate shoulders, but are more or less rounded, some
with bulges that are reminiscent of C. consors.  The outline of
the shells typically show some concavity, like C. emaciatus,
but usually not as much, about mid-whorl.  Or you might view
it as a "bulge" just below mid-whorl, as the shells usually are
constricted again toward the anterior tip.

The spiral striae on all the specimens I have ever seen are what
I would consider to be heavy or coarse.  If I found a specimen
that had sharp shoulders, a concave spire, and very light striae,
I would certainly be suspicious that it was something other than
C. terebra.  You'll notice that even RK&K had to put the old "cf."
in the names of some of their specimens, though, because not
all of the cones exactly fit the description of a known species.
They often appear to be intermediate between two species.  You
can see an example or two of this on Guido Poppe's "Exceptional
Shells" page, listed as "Conus species."

Good luck, Cheers,



Don
Pago Pago, AS