|
|
Turbo pitholatus
The first specimen of C. bregeriana in Fiji was collected by Mr. A. Jennings at an island off the Nadi coast. Subsequent
specimens were dredged by A. Jennings at Momi (West coast of Viti Levu), however, they were dead. The first live specimen was
dredged by Jennings and myself off the island of Akuilau (W off Nadi) in only 2 fms depth. The locality was sandy bottom,
broken coral, and a lot of short stubby green weed. C. lutea humphreysii is found in the same locality, clinging to the
leaf-like weed. The bregeriana fell out of a crevice from a coral which was brought in by the dredge.
The six specimens so far found in Fiji (3 live-collected and 3 beach) compare fairly well with New Caledonian specimens, and
differ only slightly in the following characteristics:
1. They are much smaller.
2. The lilac rim around the dorsum is extremely pale.
3. The marginal dark brown spots are absent.
4. The white "dust spots" extend much farther up the dorsum (labial side up to 1/3 of the height of the shell and on the
columellar side they reach half way up the dorsum).
The mean measurements and teeth count of the 6 Fiji specimens are as follows: Length: 18mm, Width: 62% of Length, Height: 51%
of Length, Lab. T: 20, Col. T: 19.
The specimens of C. bregeriana that I have examined showed that the feature of the white spots on the base and margins are a
consistent feature, lacking in all other races of walkeri. I examined the following specimens:
11 specimens in the Australian Museum, Sydney. (ex-Rossitter coll., all from New Caledonia.)
13 specimens in New Caledonian collections (Bernie. Mus., Reverce, Tourres and D. Boust coll.)
2 specimens from New Caledonia in my own collection.
6 specimens collected in Fiji.
Radula studies from a Fiji-collected specimen were made by Dr. Schilder, and his results were kindly made available for
publication in this article. Some of the radula indices were as follows: radula contained 96 plus 8 (nascentes) rows, its
entire length was 7.9mm (shell length was 12.4mm), and the breadth of the median was 0.071mm. Illustrated is a drawing (after
Schilder) of half a row of the radula examined. Dr. Schilder states that there is not the slightest difference between the
radula of bregeriana and the radula of walkeri which he examined from Dangar Besar, Saleh Bay, Indonesia. Both of these agree
with Vayssière's illustration of the radula of bregeriana from Noumea (1927).
The parade of cowry-authors down through the years is an impressive one: Gaskoin, Gray, Jousseaume, Hidalgo, Menke, Brazier,
Hedley, Cox, Iredale, Cotton, and perhaps the greatest workers of them all, the Schilders, who have devoted their lives to
the research of every possible facet that could be considered as pertinent to the study of Cypraea.
I'd like to single out just two or three of the more important of the systematic works in this family that have played a
major role in the various revisions that have taken place. First of these is the work published in 1884 by Jousseaume in the
Bulletin of Zoology in France. Jousseaume established, in this paper, many of the generic groups still in use today --
defining their limits and grouping species roughly into these genera.
turbo pitholatus,tortella,eggshell,white shell,lamp shade,decorative,troca bead,leis,rapa - rapana,turbo pitholatus
Turbo pitholatus maxima clam shells jewelry sea urchin lambis scorpio nasa shell capis shells pokalet murex ramusus fashion strombus mariabelles silver mouth sea urchin chamber nautilus leis sea urchin lambis milladeda melo tortella white.
turbo pitholatus
Shells
Jewellery
|
