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Reference	Citation	Reference available
Martyn, T. 1784. Universal Conchology: Figures of Nondescript Shells. 2. London. 1pp; 41-80 [fig. 43]	Figured Original Description Type Designation	request
Gmelin, J. F. 1791. Caroli a Linne Systema Naturae. Ed. 13. Tom. 1, Vermes, Pars 6, Mollusca. 3021-3910pp [3531]	Cited Original Description Type Designation	request
Fraussen, K. & Terryn, Y. 2007. The family Buccinidae: Genus Neptunea. A Conchological Iconography. i-iv, 164pp; 168 text figs; 154 pls [44-45; text figs 21a-e; pl. 154, figs 1a-d]	Cited Figured	request
Fraussen, K. & Terryn, Y. 2017. On the identity of Neptunea lyrata (Gmelin, 1791) (Gastropoda: Buccinoidea), with description of Neptunea excelsior sp. nov. from the northern West Pacific. Gloria Maris. 56(3): 68-81. [68, 69 & 74; pl. 1; figs 2-4]	Cited Figured	request

Buccinum liratum was named and illustrated by Thomas Martyn in the second volume of his 1784 edition of The Universal Conchologist. The illustration was based on this shell at NMW, which is the holotype by monotypy (ICZN 73.1.2). This work has been rejected by ICZN for nomenclatural purposes under Opinion 479 and so the name is unavailable. Gmelin described the taxon under the name Murex lyratus in 1791 using Martyn’s illustration and so the NMW specimen is also the holotype of this taxon; this name is valid and available.

The Hunterian holds a manuscript written by Capt John Laskey stating that at the sale of the Fordyce collection this shell was purchased by Capt. John Laskey for £18 and was then passed into the Cabinet of Jennings.

Comments from Fraussen & Terryn, 2007:
Martyn indicated ”K. George Sound, Rade de S. George” hereby referring to what is now called the Chicagoff and Baranoff archipelago but Martyn listed the same locality also for his Buccinum saturum (Neptunea ventricosa), also a northern species, which is common on the southern Bering Sea. Consequently we doubt if this locality is correct. Whatever the case, the shell is most similar to some other specimens collected at Unalaska Island (Nelson MS, 1974...)....In any case, the shell was brought to England on the Resolution in 1780, was published in 1784, and then disappeared for a long time. Until one day, when some whelks from the collection of A. H. Cooke were acquired by the late Tom Pain from Michael Block, a peculiar shell came to light, remarkably similar to that figure.....Without doubt, this shell is the “lost type”.