LANDSNAILS – SET OF MINIMUM 100 BELGIAN LAND SNAILS
Quality: Great quality.
Collected: ARIANTA ARBUSTORUM (minimum 20) On the ground between dead leaves at the edges of the forest.
CEPAEA HORTENSIS & CEPAEA NEMORALIS (minimum 80) On the ground and on trees.
All collected in the forest on the left bank of the river Schelde, Antwerp, Belgium.
Comments: Self collected Belgian soil land snails by Willy Van Damme
Tutufa rubeta Linnaeus, 1758
by divers on coral reef at 15-20m
Poro Island, Camotes, Cebu
Philippines
Shells from the family Bursidae are commonly known as “Frog Shells.” The inhabit the tropial seas and live in the coral reefs. As such, they can end up encrusted with coral growths making them well camouflaged and difficult to cleanup. Tutufa rubeta, Linne, 1758 is but one of the many varieties of frog shells found in the Philippines. Relatively few specimens reach the market making Bursa a challenging family to collect.
Bursa are heavy for their size, are beige or tan in color and interesting detail in their mouth or aperture. Tutufa rubeta is named for its red mouth, although only young specimens exhibit the red coloring. The larger the specimen, the paler the mouth. This specimen is about 4″. Occasional specimens grow to just over 5″. This one was live collected and comes with the preserved operculum.
The most sought our member of the family is Tutufa Bubo Linne, 1758 which grows to a whopping 10″.
Donated from the collection of Richard Kent
Turritella terebra (Linnaeus, 1758)
Lucky is the shell crafter who wins this raffle. Imagine all that can be created with two dozen (24) of these magnificent shells!
Commonly 5-7cm, they can can grow to 15-17cm long. Turritella terebra is a very tall elegant shell with regular spirals which are finely ridged. The color ranges from cream to chocolate brown with all shades in between. It is the largest of Family Turritellidae where most are small and seldomly collected.
Turritella terebra is herbivorous and lives on sandy and muddy areas of the intertidal zone. In the northern Philippines, they are regularly collected and marketed as food.
Although these are offered as craft shells they are of high quality and not seconds. They are from the Philippines. Donated by Richard Kent
Cypraea cervus Linne 1758
under ledge by diver at 60′
Off Madiera Beach, Florida 2004
Cypraea cervinetta Kienner, 1843
under dead coral slabs,
shallow water at low tide
Pedro Gonzales, Panama
Deer Cowrie and Little Deer Cowrie. This month’s specimen shells are very closely related. They are near identical in color and pattern, both having fawn colored dorsums covered with hazy white spots and a clear area formed by the mantle line. Looking at the two side by side they are easy to separate. Cypraea cervus Linne 1758 is “plump” whereas Cypraea cervinetta Kienner, 1843 is “lean”. As a rule cervus is the much larger of the two. Cervinetta’s teeth are more strongly defined. Cervus is found in the Florida keys, the Florida gulf coast, Cuba and the Yucatan. Cervinetta lives on the west coast of Central America, most commonly found in Panama.
Both are noted for their extreme wide range in size. Cypraea cervus grows to the largest size of all cypraea, reaching a whopping 190mm (7.5″). Giant specimens which are very few and far between bring jaw dropping prices as they just don’t grow so large anymore. Today, typical specimens are 80-100mm. Cypraea cervinetta has dwarf populations going down to just under 30mm in size. Juveniles of both are banded. The banding gets glazed over in adults although most specimens of cervinetta will show some banding on the top of the dorsum. Fresh specimens have brown dorsums that fade rapidly to fawn even when stored in darkness.
The two specimens are close to “gem” in quality and are typical in pattern. They are donated from the collection of Richard Kent.
Spondylus versicolor Schreibers, 1793 by diver on rock and coral wall. Racha Islands, Thailand, 2014
Thorny oysters do not have much in common with the the true oyster. They hardly resemble each other. True oysters live in huge colonies whereas the thorny oyster tends to be a loaner. One is collected to be consumed as a delicacy. The other because of its attractive and delicate spines. They do have two things in common. Both attach themselves to a solid surface with a byssus. Both have a ball and socket that joins the two valves together rather than a toothed hinge as in other bivaves.
Spondylus in the only genus in the family Spondylidae. There are about fifty members in the genus and often are very confusing to classify. They are found in tropical waters around the world. Spondylus versicolor Schreibers, 1793 is called the “golden thorny oyster” though the color is more likely to be orange and never golden. This specimen is an albino but a look at the margin where the valves come together and one will see orange color.
Spondylus are highly collectible and eagerly sought out. Anyone who has collected live specimens can attest to how challenging many specimens are to clean.
This very attractive specimen came from the Phuket Islands area of Thailand and is about three and half inches across. Donated by Richard Kent and originally purchased from a Thai dealer.
Our next, and very highly anticipated trip will be to the fossil pits in Ft. Myers. The date is Saturday, February 25th, 2017 and you must be at the staging area by 8:30 AM. The cost is $25 per person, and the trip is limited to 20 participants only. Due to legal restrictions we cannot give you the information as to where the fossil pit is, nor the staging area. All of that will be supplied to those who are attending.
Cash is fine and checks are to be made out to Gary Schmelz. After the outing we will meet at the Country Roads Café for a wonderful lunch of your choice….. and there will be “contests and prizes”.
Again, an information packet will be given to the attendees. For reservations contact Richard Sedlak at sedlaki1@comcast.net / 954-296-5633 and there will be a sign-up sheet at the January meeting. I might remind everyone that there are only 7 spots left.
Our next outing will be to the Sanibel Shell Show on Saturday, March 4th and for this the club will rent a van so everyone can arrive at once. There is room for a maximum of 12, but if there is enough interest we will rent a second van. The cost for the trip is $30 per person with the only other expense being the $5 “donation” for the show plus whatever you want for lunch.
We will leave at 7:30 AM from the Coral Ridge Mall parking lot, the side facing US 1, at the base of the AMC Theatre sign. The location is very secure and the Target security carts patrol until after 10 PM. We should return by about 9 PM.
Upon arrival to Sanibel we will go directly to the show, followed by lunch at the popular Island Cow located right next door. We can then go back to the show for a while and then go to one of the local beaches for some shelling and if there is time stop at one of the shell shops. On the way home (we leave Sanibel about 6 PM) we will have a special “refreshment” stop.
The only thing I have to mention is that if you commit to the trip you must pay up front, and unless you are in the hospital “gasping for breath” there are no refunds. This trip has to pay for itself. But come along….you won’t regret it.
Cypraea aurantium Gmelin, 1791 was until recently the most prized of all cowries and the centerpiece of a collection. Today, now that its habitat is known, the Golden Cowry is available to collectors. This however does not diminish in any way its beauty or desirability.
The current taxon is in Lyncina Troschel, 1863 whose type shell is the common yet beautiful Cypraea lynx Linn,1758. A comparison of the bases makes the relationship obvious. Lynicina includes the ultra rare Lyncina broderpii, lucodon and porteri, along with such common specie as carneola and vitellus.
Lyncina aurantium is a big, heavy and beautiful globose shell with a solid orange dorsum and white base. It is Indo-Pacific found in the Philippines and Fiji with an apparent gap in between. They grow up to 100MM and slightly larger. A giant one is is spectacular. Unfortunately, the majority of specimens are marred by stress growth marks. The marks are readily obvious to the person harvesting and should have been left alive to reproduce, but since these inferior specimens will still bring a fair price, they are taken.
Lyncina aurantium is a nocturnal, deepwater reef species and we’re giving away a secret here, a cave dweller that likes to hang upside down suspended on the roof of the cave. As SCUBA divers most often looked straight ahead, they failed to observe to aurantium above their heads! Most specimens today are collected by hookah divers who stand rather than swim. It is virtually impossible to get specific collection data and maybe that is a good thing so as to protect from over collection.
This specimen is a fine example, though not quite gem as it has faint growth lines that are only noticeable upon close inspection. Its size of three and a had inches is slightly below average. It will be a prize shell to the person that wins the raffle! Donated by Richard Kent
Cypraea aurantium Gmelin, 1791
collected by hookah diver
50 meters deep, Albay Gulf
Philippines. 2011
.
Dr. Edward Petuch, has donated many books from his library to the Broward Shell Club. Ed recently retired from Florida Atlantic University, where he was a professor of Geology in the Department of Geosciences. Being the vibrant speaker Ed is, his students will miss him. While I was picking up the books, one of his former students told me the department will not be the same without him.
Long known by many of the members of the Broward Shell Club, since he was a graduate student at the University of Miami, Ed has named over 1200 species of Recent and Fossil mollusks and written 17 books. Ed has had a close relationship to many of our club members, naming many species of shells for both Alice and Bob Pace, Kevan and Linda Sunderland, Lynda Zylman and myself including others.
Many thanks to Ed for his generous donation to our club. Some are already ready for check out in our library.
Submitted by Carol Marshall
Cypraea guttata azumai, Schilder 1960
Cypraea guttata, Gmelin 1791 is one of the most exquisite of all shells. Until recently it was also one of the rarest. When Burgess wrote his monumental book “The Living Cowries” in 1970, he stated that there were fewer than 20 known specimens. Today due to the Asian commercial fishing fleets trawling in deep water, specimens consistently come to the market. Cypraea guttata has an orange dorsum with white “drops”; The extremities are rostrate and spiny. The prominent teeth extend the width of the base and are deep brown stained contrasting to a white base.
The variety Erosaria guttata azumai was not known until Schilder described two dead collected specimens from off the coast of Japan in 1960. Today specimens collected in the East and South China Seas are the ones most likely to be offered by dealers. Cypraea guttata guttata, Gmelin 1791, the Philippine variety and first described is the hardest to acquire. They grow to the largest size and these big specimens are incredibly striking (and super expensive too!) Cypraea guttata surinensis, Raybaudi 1978 which comes from the Andaman Sea is the most vibrant with a richer color and almost black teeth. It also tends to bring the highest prices. Because most specimens come from commercial trawling, too many substandard and immature specimens reach the market. This specimen though is in gem condition, average in size, and exemplifies the reduced spotting that is typical of the azumai variety. It was trawled in 2008 at 200 meters deep off the coast of Zhejang Province near Ningbo City in the East China Sea. The shell was purchased direct from China and donated by Richard Kent.
Conus amadis castaneofasciata Dautzenberg, 1937 is an attractive and highly desirable subspecies of Conus amadis Gmelin, 1791, One could easily say it is its own species as it is collected off the coast of Myanmar and Southern Thailand while Conus amadis is found in India. The differences are many, Conus amadis castaneofasciata has a higher gloss, a taller spire, lighter in weight, more erratic tenting, different coloration, and pronounced banding.
Conus amadis is a mid-sized cone typically about 75mm though they do come much larger. Evidently they grow in rapid spurts, then rest, as virtually all specimens have pronounced growth lines.
Conus amadis castaneofasciata is quite variable. Deep water populations have very tall spires, some populations are al golden in color while another is chocolate brown with minimal tenting.
This specimen, donated by Richard Kent, was trawled off the Andaman Islands in Myanmar.
Broward Shell Club 
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