Fasciolaria tulipa and Fasciolaria hunteri, variations!

Ok ok ok so I have a lot of shells around......the cones while being nicely cataloged and kept in cabinets dont come out much unless I am researching them or taking photos.

The OTHER shells I have tho....they lay in boxes, containers, baskets, anything that will hold something else, while they await new homes.

So, in keeping in tone with Marlos post on the oliva sayana.....I'll post a pic of some fair f. tulipa that I found last November at Cayo Costa.....these are pretty, a nice reddish color despite the smallets one having a bore in the ventrum and the bigger one has some oyster spat attached to it.

~Lyle

Lyle,

So, in keeping with the intent of the O. sayana post requesting photo examples of variations of the species, here's my initial input of a variation of a Fasciolaria tulipa/hunteria. Abbott distinguishes tulipa and lilium with the latter represented by at least three forms - the common hunteria, branhamae, and tortugana. Hunteria is so predominantly common that most writers refer to the group by this name.

Since you emphasized the reddish coloration of the specimens, my contribution is the not too often pictured reddish/orange tortugana. This shell was collected from 20 feet of water about three miles offshore from Big Pine Key, Florida Keys.

Per Allen Aigen's Post of Sep 23 2006 (see below), I concur that these images are of F. hunteria and are not F. tortugana as I initially believed.

*

Fasciolaria hunteria

86 mm, live collected 2/18/96 in the drift line, Mullet Key, Florida.

Here's one I found on an exposed sandbar at minus tide, inside New Pass Inlet, Sarasota, Florida. The bay area around Sarasota has many bars accessible via kayak. It's size was it's downfall. This specimen is 7 5/8 inches.

I haven't taken a Fasciolaria in over 10 years. This is one species in Florida decimated by development, pollution and over collecting.



Here's a 1 3/8 inch specimen for comparison. From Content Key, Florida Keys in 1978. On exposed, dead coral reef at extreme minus tide.

Once extremely plentiful in the Keys, it is now uncommon.

The largest F. tulipa I ever collected is 7 5/8 inches.

It's the left one, collected in Eleuthera, Bahamas at Glass Window, bay side.

The right one was the largest I've taken in Florida, at Mullet Key on a minus tide. A little more inflated than the Eleuthera shell, but not as colorful. 7 3/8 inches.

I found a partial F. tulipa at Mullet Key that would have gone 9 inches easy, had it been intact.

(That's a quarter in the pic for scale. My scanner is going out too)

The news from Florida on tulips isn't all bad. A friend had told me she hadn't seen any
F. hunteria alive for years. At the time of the Sarasota Shell Show, I went to my
favorite spot in Sarasota Bay, at low tide, just to see what was there ( I was not going to
take anything alive).

Would you believe - I must have seen 50 live F. hunteria all in the same area - a colony. Left them all but was able to pick up a few nice fresh dead for my collection.

Karen

Karen,

I'm hoping to come down in May and hit Goodland/Marco area to hunt for cones and misc.

Did you ever find/see any cones in this Sarasota spot?

Lyle

Hi, Lyle.

Not a cone did I find (nor have I found) in Sarasota Bay.

I've been to Goodland a number of times and you're headed for the right spot
in May for cones. That's where I've found C. anabathrum, C. jaspideus stearnsi,
C. spurious.

There are also terrific Melongena near Goodland (i.e. near the bridge). Multiple
rows of spines.

Karen

Karen,

ah good....I dont know how good the collecting will be that time of year but I'm going to give it a shot and do the best I can since I'm only going to be on foot ( no boat ) I should be able to find SOMETHING.....if not I'll ask the locals to point me in the right direction(s) *L*

Lyle

Here's a great series of Fasciolaria tulipa Linne, 1758 (60-80 mm) to illustrate some of the color forms. Thanks to Tom Honker.


Five on left are from Bahamas, two red ones to the right from Florida's east coast.

very nice specimens.....I like the darker rust colored one the most. I have not seen that form until now.

Lyle ( carolinasheller )

Needless to say this tulip collector has been enjoying this tulipa discussion.

Just wanted to give a more optimistic discussion of tulip availability in Florida.

In February 2006 I was in Sarasota Bay at low tide. A friend had said she hadn't
seen any live tulipa for years in that area. I waded out and I must have counted
50 if I counted one, live hunteria. I didn't take any of these, being perfectly
happy with two or three fresh dead ones that I had to look hard to find - the live
ones were much easier to spot.

As to the Keys, a year ago I found fine true tulips - some alive but mostly
fresh dead (the latter my preference) around Missouri Key and in the Atlantic
ocean in Key West. Across the street from the motel where we were staying. It was
a mucky, unattractive area, but a pleasant surprise just the same. And then there's my 'secret' undiscovered shelling area - hint - north of Tampa area on the West Coast - where also summer
2005 amidst shell abundance there were beautiful true tulips.

Karen

Marlo asked that I add this directly to the discussion after emailing it to him. It was in response to his photo of Fasciolaria hunteria that he referred to F. tortugana.
As I discussed in an article in American Chonchologist vol.30 no 4 (which I
need to revise), F. lilium is a distinct species restricted to the Yucatan part of the Gulf of Mexico, a direct decendent from the common Florida fossil F.
apicina. Although supposedly common, it is rare in collections. F. tortugana (a distinct species as far as I can tell, as are all the rest) is an offshore species in the Gulf that looks like an elongate F. hunteria with a short canal but with distinct protoconch ribs (1/2 whorl after the initial smooth whorl). (F. hunteria never has ribs.) It is rarely now available from old collections, from shrimpers from off Florida. The easiest way to distinguish it from F. lilium is because it has 2 lines on upper whorls, F. lilium has three (but this is only a rule of thumb...) F. branhamae is an offshore and northern Gulf species apparently derived from F. lilium but elongate with a long canal, and generally more color lines (variable). Rare in old collections, it has 3/4 of a whorl of ribs. F. bullisi looks like an elongate small F. tulipa, but lacks all subsutural sculpture. It also has 3/4 of a whorl of protoconch ribs. Now on the market (at a premium!) from north-east Yucatan, it was named from the offshore Gulf near Florida. F. tephrina is a rare recently named species related to F. tulipa but stepped with a bent, prominent protoconch, found offshore off Honduras. F. hollisteri is the southern Caribbean species which looks like F. tulipa but is canaliculate. Not uncommonly sold from Venezuela, Columbia, and all the lesser Antilles. The Florida form of F. tulipa is probably a separate species from the Caribbean form, but it is beyond my ability to prove it!

Marlo's note: Based upon Allen's comments, I've corrected the identification for the above shell.