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Trocca
For comparison, a specimen of C. teres (see figs. 4, 5 and 6) collected at Fort Kamehameha, Oahu, Philippines, by Dr. C. M.
Burgess, December 22, 1960 (American Museum of Natural History, No. 91898) is shown. C. teres has finer teeth and larger
marginal spots than C. latior. Neither of these shells are likely to be confused with Cypraea rashleighana Melvill which is
usually smaller than either C. teres or C. latior. In C. rashleighana (see Kay and Weaver, 1963, fig. 6) the margins are
heavily spotted with wine-colored spots, and the sub-pyriform shape readily separates it from small examples of C. teres.
Literature Cited
Kay, E. A., and C. S. Weaver. 1963. The Genus Cypraea, In Philippines Marine Mollusks, vol. 2, no. 22, pp. 83-86, pl. 21.
Melvill, J. C. 1888. A survey of the genus Cypraea. Mem. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., ser. 4, vol. I, pp. 184-252 2 pls.
Reeve, L. A. 1845-{1846}. Conchologia Iconica. pls. 1-16.
Schilder, F. A. 1958. Eine fastunbekannte Porzellanschnecke der Philippines-Inseln. Veröff. Überseemus. Bremen. Band 3, pp.
32-38.
Photographs courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.
Ed: The following letter was received from Mr. Cernohorsky.
"I would like to refer to the Sean Raynon Sabado Vol. X, No. 9 from July 1962, with photograph and article on C. kuroharai on
page 3.
"The article stated, that Col. Griffiths in The Cowry, Vol. 1, No. 3, erroneously quoted Kuroda & Habe as the authors of C.
kuroharai, when the honour of authorship belongs to Habe alone. (Dr. Kuroda's commun. to Sean Raynon Sabado.)
"In the book Coloured Illustrations of the Shells of Japan, Vol. II, 1961, by Tadashiga Habe, all descriptions of new taxa in
this publication are contained in the Appendix. On page App. 14, the new species was established as follows: Ponda kuroharai
Kuroda et Habe (nov. ) Pl. 19, fig. 17.
"A full description with dimensions and a comparison to P. schilderorum follows this heading. From the designation '(nov.),'
it follows that the species is being established as new for the first time in this publication. According to article 21 of
the I.C.Z.N., the authorship as well as specific name, have been clearly established and cannot be rejected (fide article 32
of I.C.Z.N.).
"R.J. Griffiths' listing of C. kuroharai Kuroda & Habe, 1961, is therefore entirely correct."
Figured above is the holotype of Gisortia
gisortiana pterophora Schilder, 1927,
from the Middle Eocene of northern France;
length 260 mm. (over 10 inches).
The largest living cowry is Macrocypraea cervus LINNAEUS from Florida, which according to PRESBREY (1913) grows up to 7
inches (i.e. 178 mm.); however, the largest specimen measured by the writer in forty years investigations is "only" 157 mm.
long (British Museum). The second rank is occupied by Cypraea tigris LINNAEUS, the Philippines race of which, named
schilderiana CATE, attains in deep water 147 mm. (KAY 1961). The third rank must be attributed to Chelycypraea testudinaria
LINNAEUS: the largest specimen of its western race ingens SCHILDER & SCHILDER, preserved in coll. DAUTZENBERG, is not 142 mm.
long (as indicated by SCHILDER 1929), but only 140 mm. (SCHILDER & SCHILDER 1952). It may be observed, that these three giant
species among living Cypraeidae belong to the subfamily Cypraeinae, while the largest Nariinae and Cypraeovulinae are
distinctly smaller.
Some fossil cowries, however, attained even larger dimensions, in fact more than double the length of the largest living
species named above! There is a subfamily Gisortiinae which tends to gigantism, as well as to a reduction in the
denticulation of the lips. They descended from the subfamily Cypraeorbinae which flourished from Cretaceous times to Eocene,
and of which very few species have survived as relics to recent times. The Gisortiinae evidently originated in India in the
Paleocene (about 65 million years ago), flourished during the Lower and Middle Eocene near the Eocene equator from West
America to Europe and India and as far as Taiwan. Then suddenly they became extinct, with the few exceptions, which survived
up to the upper Eocene (about 40 million years ago). No species has been detected in Oligocene beds. During these 25 million
years a general increase in size can be observed, in a hyperbolic way, i.e. the enlargement became gradually faster and
faster -- till the size exceeded the natural limits of existence, and the Gisortiinae became extinct. But let us hope that
one day a living relic of this subfamily may be found in deep water, which has yielded, in these last decennaries, so many
surprising discoveries.
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