Comitas bolognai Bozzetti, 2001

    On January 13, 2003 I (Harry G. Lee) received a specimen labelled Benthovoluta prellei Bozetti, 2000.  Since the shell has a deep posterior notch in the labrum (outer lip), and Benthovoluta (Volutoidea: Turbinellidae) possesses no such feature, I suspected there was a misidentification at hand.  The shell was scanned and the image was offered to the members of Conch-L, a 600-member Internet List-serve comprised of shell-collectors and kindred spirits.  There were several replies indicating that the shell was not Benthovoluta prellei, but the most informative response came from Andrew Grebneff, who placed it in Comitas H. Finlay, 1926 (Conoidea: Turridae: Turriculinae).  Although this genus was treated by Powell [Powell, A. W. B., 1969.  The family Turridae in the Indo-Pacific Part 2. The subfamily Turriculinae. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 2(10): 207-416. Sept. 9] on pp. 257-293, my shell does not seem to fit match any species-level taxon in that monograph.  Interestingly all three malacologists named in this report were (and Andrew still is) New Zealanders.

    On January 20, 2003, a week or so after the image was posted on the website, Werner Massier of South Africa provided the identification to the species level.