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Strombus canarium
Description of Pusula (Dolichunis) producta:
Ovate and humped, with broadened, somewhat angled sides and produced extremities. White in colour throughout, with transverse
ribs crossing the dorsum completely and extending over the margins and base onto the columella. The transverse ribs are
white, elevated, sharply cut, and the interstices are broad and crenulate; a dorsal groove is absent and the spire is
covered. Base is flattish, labial lip broad, slightly convex and fairly straight; aperture is of medium width, widening
slightly anteriorly. The posterior outlet is deeply cut, fossula is very broad, concave, ribbed, and extending towards the
labial wall.
Size of illustrated specimen: L: 11.8mm, W: 72%, H: 55%, Lab. teeth: 23, Coll. teeth: 19, Dorsal ribs: 28, Marginal ribs: 41
(The width and height are expressed in the percentage of the length; the dorsal and marginal ribs are counted on both sides
of the shell, the 4 - 5 loop-like, vertical ribs at each extremity have been excluded). Iredale's T. excelsa measures as
follows: L: 18mm, W: 72%. H: 56%. The Australian shell is slightly larger than Fiji specimens of Dolichupis producta 10mm -
15mm but otherwise identical. One of Gaskoin's specimens of D. producta measured about 18mm.)
The first specimen of Dolichupis producta was dredged in 1962 by A. Jennings, in 15 - 16 fathoms off the Momi lighthouse
(West Viti Levu), and a total of 6 specimens have been dredged to date from the same locality. Prior to the Fijian record,
there appeared to be only 6 specimens preserved in collections (Dr. Schilder, in litt.): the holotype in the British Museum,
2 specimens in the Saul collection in Cambridge, and one specimen each in Stockholm and coll. Tomlin and Schilder. Locality
indication on these shells was "Indonesia." The fossil Dolichupis soloensis Schilder, 1937 (Ingen. Ned. Indie, (4) 4:200,
fig. 18) from the Pleistocene of Java, might be a chronological race of the recent form.
Erronea walkeri Sowerby is a rather uncommon cowry species so that it is absent in many collections (Schilder 1940, Arch.
Mollusk. 72:168) and the limits of its distribution are inaccurately known. In our Prodrome (1938, Proc.Malac. Soc. 23:151)
and in my catalogue of all living and fossil Cypraeacea (1941, Arch. Mollusk. 73:96) four "geographical races" have been
distinguished, characterized chiefly by the color of the shell (1952, Mem. Inst. Belgique (2) 45:125); the geographical
distribution of these four races comprised the following areas: walkeri Sowerby 1832: Seychelles, Cargados, Maldives;
surabajensis Schilder 1937: Philippines, Cochinchina to Lombok and Eastern Indonesia (holotype in lower Pleistocene beds of
Modjokerto, Java); continens Iredale 1935: Torres Strait to Moreton Bay; bregeriana Crosse 1868: New Caledonia (and Louisiade
Archipelago?).
The year 1758 marked the beginning of a whole new era of systematic enlightenment. Linnaeus introduced for the first time an
orderly arrangement for the animal kingdom, among them the mollusca in general and the Cypraea in particular. He enunciated
the first acceptable principles for defining species and genera, and this, with his suggestion for a simple binomial
nomenclature, resulted in the first systematic arrangement to enable workers to sort their material in a logical manner.
Linnaeus' famous work, Systema Naturę (10th edition) first fixed the taxonomy of the Cypraeidae in a way that made sense; the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature uses this work as the starting point for name priority in all animal
groups.
With this starting point in mind, subsequent work on the Cypraea can be traced through the literature in fairly definite
stages: the first stage is evidently the study of local populations; the second, the acceptance of possible environmental
influences, and the third would be the study of species and races in a broader sense. These are the essential stages to be
considered in the study of any shell family group.
After Linnaeus, many other naturalists contributed their work to subsequent volumes. Gmelin 1789-1791 is the author of the
13th Edition of Linnaeus' earlier work; he revised it by adding many new species and enlarging the bibliographic references.
Gmelin mentioned a total of 114 species of Cypraea.
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