One
Last Look at the Muricidae
by Emily H. Vokes
In the forty years that I have
been studying the Family Muricidae, many changes have taken
place in the generic framework of the group. In 1960, almost
all of the species were simply Murex, and such taxa as Chicoreus,
Pterynotus and Hexaplex were considered as subgenera. In the
subsequent years, several workers, most notably the late George
Radwin and Anthony D'Attilio, and more recently Roland Houart,
have made great strides in helping me to understand this fascinating
bunch of snails. If they were not so fascinating how could I
have spent forty years and still feel that there is so much
that I do not yet understand!
In an attempt to find a path through the taxonomic maze that
this supraspecific splitting has developed, I have generated
a list of the generic groups and their suspected relationships.
You will notice more subgeneric relationships in the Muricinae
and Muricopsinae than in the other groups -- this is a reflection
of the amount of work done on the fossil record of the groups
in question. Needless to say, the thoughts expressed here are
those of the author only and do not reflect a consensus among
malacologic workers. But it is a place to start the argument.
I also frequently am asked, "Just
how many species of Muricidae are there, anyway?" And the
answer, of course, is: "It depends on whom you ask?"
George Radwin would have given a very different answer from
Ed Petuch, for instance. Over the years I have tried to compile
what I think is a good "middle-of-the-road" approximation
of this number. The lower number is certainly valid species,
the higher number is "possible" (i.e., they may or
may not be synonyms) species. If anyone wishes to put the entire
list of species on the Internet, I will be happy to provide
the list on diskette.*
The numbers given herein are
for RECENT species only; to try to evaluate the fossil species
would take another forty years! The indented names are considered
subgenera.
MURICINAE
Murex s.s. - 31-33
Promurex - 1
Haustellum s.s. - 6-10
Vokesimurex - 33-34
Bolinus - 2
Chicoreus s.s. - 7-8
Triplex - 49-51
Siratus - 17
Rhizophorimurex - 1-2 |
Chicopinnatus - 3
Phyllonotus - 8
Naquetia - 5-7
Chicomurex - 6-7
Hexaplex - 19-21
Pterynotus s.s. - 27
Pterymarchia - 7
Pterochelus - 7
Purpurellus - 3 |
Ponderia - 6
Prototyphis - 3
Poirieria s.s. - 5
Paziella - 6
Pazinotus - 11
Panamurex - 4
Flexopteron - 2
Aspella - 17
Dermomurex s.s. - 18 |
Gracilimurex - 2
Takia - 6
Trialatella - 8
Viator - 3
Calotrophon - 3
Attiliosa - 10 |
Muricinae
subtotal: 336-352 |
MURICOPSINAE
Muricopsis s.s. - 19
Risomurex - 18
Pradoxa - 2
Murexsul - 26-27 |
Acanthotrophon - 4-5
Murexiella s.s. - 35
Subpterynotus - 2
Homalocantha - 15 |
Maxwellia - 2
Favartia s.s. - 32-34
Caribiella - 4
?Pygmaepterys - 20 |
?Bizetiella - 3 |
Muricopsinae
subtotal: 182-186 |
TYPHINAE
Typhis s.s. - 5
Typhina - 15
Rugotyphis - 1 |
Talityphis - 4
Typhisala - 3
Typhisopsis - 2 |
Typhinellus - 4
Haustellotyphis - 1
Siphonochelus s.s. - 23 |
Laevityphis - 4
Distichotyphis - 1 |
Typhinae
subtotal: 63 |
TRIPTEROTYPHINAE
| |
Pterotyphis s.s.
- 3 |
Tripterotyphis
- 7 |
|
Tripterotyphinae
subtotal: 10 |
ERGALATAXINAE
Cronia s.s. - 3
Usilla - 1
Ergalatax - 9
Cumella - 1
Muricodrupa - 4 |
Pascula - 8
Spinidrupa - 1-2
Maculotriton - 2
Lataxiena - 6
Orania - 26 |
Cytharomorula - 5
Trachypollia - 4
Xanthochorus - 3
Phyllocoma - 2
Galfridus - 2 |
Cinclidotyphis - 1
Phrygiomurex - 1
Daphnellopsis - 3
Lindapterys - 2
Uttleya - 2 |
Ergalataxinae
subtotal: 86-87 |
OCENEBRINAE
Ocenebra s.s. - 6
n. subgen. - 1
Hadriania - 1
Genkaimurex - 2
Ocinebrina - 21
Jaton - 3
Ceratostoma - 6
Pterorytis - 1 |
Pteropurpura s.s. - 15-16
Calcitrapessa - 1
Poropteron - 4
Ocinebrellus - 5
Nucella s.s. - 11
Acanthina - 2
Acanthinucella - 6
Trochia - 1 |
n. subgen. - 2
Forreria s.s. - 1
Austrotrophon - 3
Zacatrophon - 1
Chorus - 1
Urosalpinx - 6
Vaughtia - 6
Roperia - 1 |
Eupleura - 7
Crassilabrum - 1
Chicocenebra - 1
Vitularia - 2
Lepsiella - 6
Haustrum - 3
Bedeva - 4 |
Ocenebrinae
subtotal: 131-132 |
RAPANINAE (aka THAIDINAE)
The plethora of
monotypic (or almost so) genera suggests that either we are cutting
things too fine, or this is an extremely diverse group.
Rapana - 3
Purpura - 3
Plicopurpura - 2-3
Concholepas - 1
Nassa - 3
Pinaxia - 2
Vexilla - 2
Thais s.s. - 4 |
Tribulus - 2
Neorapana - 3
Vasula - 1
Reishia - 2
Dicathais - 1
Cymia - 1
Stramonita s.s. - 13
Thaisella - 13 |
Agnewia - 1
Acanthais - 1
Taurasia - 1
Semiricinula - 2-19(!)
Mancinella s.s. - 4
Thalessa - 9
Morula s.s. - 18
Azumamorula - 1 |
Oppomorus - 1
Neothais - 3
Habromorula - 15
Drupa s.s. - 5
Ricinella - 4
Drupina - 2
Drupella - 6 |
Rapaninae
subtotal: 129-149 |
TROPHONINAE
The Trophoninae
are a nightmare! The group is badly overnamed, and even the assignment
of species to the Trophoninae vs. Buccinidae, which in many cases
have a very similar shell morphology, is by no means certain.
In fact, it is not even sure that there is such a thing as a subfamily
Trophoninae; the group is certainly polyphyletic, and right now
is a "wastebasket" for lots of odds-and-ends that do
not fit anywhere else. Included in the maximum number are many
taxa that are known synonyms, but also many that just "might
be" synonyms. So, these numbers represent truly "ball-park"
guesses. This is a group that the next generation will have to
sort out.
Trophon - 21-45
Xymene s.s. - 13-23
Zeatrophon - 9-16
Xymenopsis - 4-32
Paratrophon - 6
Fuegotrophon - 2-8
Coronium - 4-6
Boreotrophon s.s. - 36-64 |
Pagodula 7-26
Nodulotrophon - 4-8
Trophonopsis s.s. - 27-57
Apixystus - 8-10
Nipponotrophon - 5
Benthoxystus - 1
Abyssotrophon - 13-21
Leptotrophon - 22 |
Conchatalos - 4
Ocenotrophon - 1
Scabrotrophon - 8-13
Tromia - 1
Chathamidia - 2
Xenotrophon - 1
Litozamia - 2-4
Anatrophon - 4-5 |
Minortrophon - 4-5
Comptella s.s. - 3
Afritrophon - 5
Incertae sedis - 4-5 |
Trophoninae
subtotal: 221-399 |
GRAND
TOTAL: Minimum = 1158; Maximum = 1378
Department of
Geology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 7011
