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Conus vespertinus Sowerby 1st, 1825

Gastropoda : Conoidea : Conidae
Type Status: Holotype
Collection: Melvill-Tomlin
Accession No.: NMW.1955.158.01204
Preparations: Dry
No. of Specimens: 1
Locality: Mauritius, Indian Ocean.
Collecting Details: (ex.Coll.) [Calonne?]; Humphrey; Tankerville; Sowerby 1st;Goodall; Fulton; Melvill

References


Reference
Citation
Reference available
Humphrey, G. 1797. Museum Calonnianum - specification of the various articles which compose the magnificent museum of natural history by M. de Calonne in France, and lately his property, consisting of an assemblage of the most beautiful and rare subjects in entomology, conchology, ornithology, mineralogy &c. Humphrey, London. i-viii, 1-84pp [14, no. 234] Cited
Sowerby, G. B. (1st). 1825. A catalogue of the shells contained in the collection of the late Earl of Tankerville arranged according to the Lamarckian Conchological System; together with an appendix, containing descriptions of many new species. Illustrated with several coloured plates. London. i-xxxiv, 1-92pp; 9 pls [91, no. 2446; pl. 8, figs 3,4] Figured
Original Description
Type Designation

request
Röckel, D., Korn, W., & Kohn, A. J. 1995. Manual of the Living Conidae Vol. 1: Indo-Pacific Region. Verlag Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden, Germany. 517pp; 84 pls [109] Cited
request

Detailed Locality

Verbatim Locality
No locality given
Point Locality:
Country: Mauritius
Station:
Grid ref./Coordinates:
Region:
Sea Region: Indian Ocean.
Altitude:
Depth:
Expedition:
Ex. Collection: [Calonne?]; Humphrey; Tankerville; Sowerby 1st;Goodall; Fulton; Melvill
Collecting date:
Collected by:

Classification

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Superfamily
Family
- - Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Neogastropoda Conoidea Conidae

Remarks

This specimen is illustrated in the back of the Tankerville Catalogue produced by Sowerby 1st (1825) under the name Conus vespertinus. The specimen is no 2446 in the Catalogue (on p. 91) and here Sowerby writes:
"2446------------
Timorensis? C. vespertinus, tab. nost. - Obs. This shell accords perfectly well with Lamarck's description of Conus Timorensis, but the figure to which he refers is far from exhibiting the elegant form of our shell, probably on account of its having been drawn from a bad specimen. This cone is named "vespertinus, the Sun-set," on a ticket in George Humphrey's hand-writing in the collection."

There is no such label remaining with the ACNMW specimen, only labels from Fulton and Melvill.
Fulton's label states: "
Conus timorensis Lk. (=vespertinus Humph.). "Mauritius". This is the specimen figd in the Tankerville coll., it was sold to a Mr Goodall for £10-10-0".

Evidence suggests that this specimen can be traced back even further to the
Museum Calonnianum (Humphrey, 1797) on p. 14, lot no 234:
"234.
Vespertinus—Le Soleil Couchant—Sun-set—-This is the only one we have seen of this very beautiful species, and we believe it is not described by any author. The ground is white, spotted and clouded with vermillion and it is in the highest perfection."
Given that Humphrey wrote the catalogue and therefore had direct contact with Calonne's collection at this time and that he indicates only one specimen is known, it is likely to be the same specimen that came up for sale in the Tankerville collection under this name with a Humphrey label. In addition, given that there is a description here by Humphrey this may be considered to be the original description as it is when the name was first introduced.

Record last modified - 19/03/2019