Here’s the problem. I’m not particularly knowledgable about Cones and my library in this area is miniscule. My interest is limited to shells found in Florida and the same or related species found north along the Atlantic coast, in the Caribbean and the Atlantic coast of South America. There is a group of small Cones found in Florida generally labeled in collections (including most museum collections) as
Conus jaspideus Gmelin, 1791. Many books, guides and papers have utilized subspecies and form names for the similar varieties found. And, apparently, there are numerous similar shells found in the Caribbean and along South American coast. These shells are generally referred to as the
Jaspideus Complex. However, there is disagreement among Cone collectors as to exactly which species are in the complex and which clearly are not.
The landmark paper that recently addressed the
Jaspideus Complex was:
Danker L. N. Vink,
The Conidae of the Western Atlantic Part XV,
La Conchiglia, Year XXII - N 261 (October/December 1991).
In my opinion, Vink did three important things:
1. He established a documented baseline for the true
C. jaspideus. By doing so he created a standard against which similar shells can be evaluated.
2. He made a review of all the then named shells “referable” to
C. jaspideus and established his interpretation of which were valid species and which of the valid species belonged in the
Jaspideus Complex. Note that Vink did miss at least one shell in his list of “referable” shells now potentially considered part of the Complex -
Conus iansa Petuch, 1979.
3. The most significant fact noted by Vink was his agreement with Alan Kohn that “the taxonomy of
C. japideus remains to be satisfactorily resolved through study of natural populations” and his recognition “that further work will be necessary” and his “present revision may serve as a new basis to start from.”
Vink recognized the following five shells as valid species composing the
Jaspideus Complex:
jaspideus Gmelin, 1791
pealii Green, 1830
stearnsii Conrad, 1869
nodiferus Kiener, 1845
acutimarginatus Sowerby, 1866
Vink’s paper was particularly helpful for me since he considered only
pealii and
stearnsii as occurring in Florida. While further studies migh reveal otherwise, until then, it allowed me to categorize my “
jaspideus-like” Florida Cones as
stearnsii or
pealii, with a few from the east coast as “questionable.” For those interested in distinguishing Florida shells from
jaspideus and deternining if they are
stearnsii or
pealii, see the following discussions:
Conus jaspideus Gmelin, 1791 Conus pealii Green, 1830 Conus stearnsii Conrad, 1869 During August 2010 I posted several inquiries on Conch-L regarding identification of some questionable Florida east coast shells. A discussion followed online and off that eventually focused generally on the
Jaspideus Complex and more specifically those found in Florida. One of the offshoots of the discussion became several exchanges about what species might currently be included in the
Jaspideus Complex. Unlike my other topics, I am not going to quote the chronology of the actual comments. Instead, I will start by accepting Vink’s baseline and indicating which species have been suggested are no longer valid and which might be added.
8/26/10 Contributing an analysis to help us understand the potential distribution of shells in the
Jaspideus Complex, John Tucker included the following species:
jaspideus Gmelin, 1791
mindanus Hwass, 1792
iansa Petuch, 1979
henckesi Coltro, 2004
damasoi Cossignani, 2007
8/30 Marcus Coltro of Femorale provided a list and links to the shells in their database they considered as belonging to the Complex:
jaspideus Gmelin, 1791
jaspideus verrucosus Hwass, 1792
pealii Green, 1830
stearnsii Conrad, 1869
acutimarginatus Sowerby, 1866
abrolhosensis Petuch, 1986
damasoi Cossignani, 2007
henckesi Coltro, 2004
iansa Petuch, 1979
mindanus agassizii Dall, 1889
mindanus duvali Bernardi, 1862
mindanus Hwass, 1792
8/31 Bill Fenzan suggested two more be considered:
pfluegeri Petuch, 2004
bodarti Coltro, 2004
With this input I had the following possibilities:
I then did a web search for all the names and came up with the following information:
Based upon what I found I added the “Comment” column in the above table. As a result I believe the following list is a good discussion baseline for the valid species potentially composing the
Jaspideus Complex.
The above is presented as a “straw man” to serve as the basis for discussion. I encourage everyone to express their opinion (hopefully with a reference or two of support). I understand that until a comprehensive, population-wide molecular analysis is accomplished, we probably cannot be very certain. However, I would hope we might reach a consensus and appropriately arrive at a better working list. As a minimum we’ll have a lively exchange and present a lot of helpful information to remain posted for consideration.
Feel free to post responses on Conch-L, here on LTS, to me at
marlo@cfl.rr.com or to any of the participants (please copy me). I’ll act as editor and secretary, and add material here as appropriate.
MORE TO COME!
