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Shell anklets
Island of Philippines:
Today we collected in a relatively new area. Due to the scarcity of white sand on the Island of Philippines, finding this
new, sandy area, proved a boon.
Our hosts for the shelling trip were Mr. Richard Middleton and Mrs. Frances Moore. The area we collected in was the recently
opened "Vacation Land House Lots" in Kapoho. Here the shore is composed of pools of ocean water in a former lava flow. Access
to the beach is by foot path which takes but a few minutes walking. The site is a series of sheltered pools fringed by a
barrier of wave-tossed rocks that create a protective wall on the sea side. Tidal channels provide an abundance of flowing
water and a supply of marine food.
A short survey of the area before we enter the water. Today the tide was a low - 1.9 at 1300 with most of the coral heads
exposed. The average depth was five feet.
We swam and searched leisurely over the entire sandy bottom. Coral-heads provided a few Turbo. The seaweed covered flats
provided some Strombus maculatus, Aplustrium amplustre (old name Hydatina amplustra) and Hydatina physis.
With the preliminary search over, I concentrated my attention on the sandy bottom. Fanning the sand, I uncovered a few
Terebra affinis. Encouraged by their appearance, I fanned and searched further. The final results were ten species of
Terebra: T. affinis, T. guttata, T. maculata, T. crenulata, T. felina, T. langfordi, T. undulata, T. penicillata, T.
flavofaciata, T. peasii, and T. flavescens.
What a day.
Mr. Clifton Weaver asked that I submit a note on Cypraea (Talostolida) latior Melvill. This species is, at present, known to
occur only from Midway Island to French Frigate Shoal (Schilder, 1958) in the western Philippines Chain. It has not been
recorded from any of the eight main Philippines Islands.
The shell usually called latior by Philippines collectors is a widely-margined form of Cypraea teres Gmelin. Several other
species of Cypraea - notably Cypraea caurica L. and C. chinensis Gmelin - also occur in relatively "broad" and "narrow"
forms, as does C. teres.
The taxon, Cypraea latior, was proposed by Melvill in 1888, for "a pyriform shell, broader and more stunted than typical
teres:, with brighter coloration and very distinct dorso-lateral spots." The figure to which Melvill referred (Reeve, 1845,
fig. 66a), has been variously identified, but appears to me to represent a specimen of the present species. Melvill's
holotype is in the Cardiff Museum, while the specimen figured by Reeve, is apparently in British Museum, (fide, Schilder,
1958).
A specimen of C. latior Melvill (see figs. 1, 2 and 3) in the American Museum of Natural History, No. 92002 was found on
Midway Island by W. E. Koons Jr. in 1941. It is a dead shell, but is readily identifiable. It measures 44 mm. x 25 mm. There
are 22 teeth on the outer lip and 20 teeth are present on the columellar side. The specimen was sent to Dr. Schilder who
verified the identification and stated (pers. communication) that it was "an oblong specimen of C. latior; all characters
agree, and the number of teeth excludes teres."
Mr. Anthony Kalnins, 244 Corinthian Road, Riverton, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, writes:
"In the July number you wrote that Mr. Max Cramer of Geraldton, W.A., had the first live-collected Cypraea marginata. But
that is not correct. My friend Mrs. McDaniels of Broome has a very nice marginata in her collection, taken alive several
years ago by a cray-fisherman near Dongara, W.A. This shell is very large and has nice blackish-brown spots, sparingly, all
over the top of the shell."
From A. R. Bowman, Adelaide Park Road, Yeppoon, Queensland, Australia, comes this letter:
"My friend, Ray Summers, is anxious to tell all Cypraea lovers that he now believes C. saulae jensostergaardi, does not
exist in Queensland waters.
"A few beautiful C. saulae nugata were found on the mainland shores of Yeppoon, Central Queensland, about 1952-53. I also
found a smaller, quite differently colored one, on one of the Keppel Islands. This one, and a mainland one, I sent to Ray
Summers. He was pleased with the nugata from Yeppoon and very interested in the pale Keppel Island form, which he said
exactly fitted the description of jensostergaardi. Professor Ostergaard had seen the holotype of jensostergaardi, and he also
agreed.
"Later, in 1960, I had the luck to fish up a rare saulae variety on a piece of dead coral I brought up on a fish hook off
Flat Rock (see Keppel Bay Tidings No. 1). This specimen seemed to Ray Summers to be between nugata and jensostergaardi. At
this time lie wondered if the deep-water and Keppel Island forms were jensostergaardi and the mainland forms nugata
Unfortunately, I did not know when I wrote my article, that Ray had had further opportunity to study this problem and thus
change his opinion.
"He was able to study a large number of Queensland specimens, all from one area, and found them so variable in size, color
and shape, that he decided there could be but one race involved, not jensostergaardi.
"So friends, it is C. saulae nugata for the Q'ld. shell and a beautiful little shell it is!"
The species was first described as Cypraea producta Gaskoin, 1836 - Proc. Zool. Soc., London, p. 200, without locality. The
holotype was figured by Sowerby, Reeve and Kiener, and was further illustrated by Sowerby (1870), Weinkauff and Tryon. In
1848, Gaskoin remarked, that further specimens have been brought to England by Capt. Sir Edward Belcher from H.M.S. Samarang,
and distributed into the cabinets of Miss Saul, Cuming, Gaskoin and others. The indication of Indonesia as locality had been
accepted on labels. The H.M.S. Samarang's voyage and collecting in the Moluccas was probably responsible for the choice of
locality.
Iredale proposed the new genus Dolichupis (Mem. Qld. Mus. 10:83, 1930) for all Trivia with produced extremities, and
designated C. producta Gaskoin, as type species. Iredale's genus Dolichupis is used here in a subgeneric sense. The same
author established Trivellona excelsa (Rec. Aust. Mus., 18:221, pl. 24, figs. 13 & 14, 1931), for a shell dredged in 50 - 70
fathoms off Montague Island, SE-Australia. Examination of Iredale's holotype in the Australian Museum (a dead, anteriorly
somewhat worn specimen), proved T. excelsa to be identical with Pusula (Dolichupis) producta (Gaskoin, 1836), and at best
meriting subspecific status on a geographic basis only. As Iredale's T. excelsa had been mis-identified or presumed different
originally, the genus name Trivellona has no standing.
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