Spondylus varius G. B. Sowerby I, 1827
SOWERBY I, G. B. 1827. Appendix. Observations on a few of the most remarkable Shells collected by Mr Samuel Stutchbury on the Coast of Some of the Islands of the Australasian and Polynesian Groups: Together with Descriptions of a Few New Species, 4 p., pl. 1. [p. 1]
1827 Spondylus varius G. B. Sowerby I, 1827
1844 Spondylus striatospinosus Chenu, 1844
1844 Spondylus delesserti Chenu, 1844
1844 Spondylus striatospinosus Chenu, 1844
1844 Spondylus delesserti Chenu, 1844
«TYPE MATERIAL. — Not researched.
TYPE LOCALITY. — S. varius: not stated, but from a collection formed "principally among the Polynesian group in the South Seas".
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. LAGON: sta. (Fig. 14 G). 1374, Grotte Merlet, 22°42.4' S, 166°41.2' E, 20-35 m, 2 pv.
DISTRIBUTION. — West Pacific: Japan, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia. Attached to corals, shell/rock debris or on sunken ships to 30 m.
DESCRIPTION. — Shell height to 300 mm or more, elongate-ovate, top valve usually depressed. Sculpture of numerous irregular fine, radial ridges with short, irregular, appressed spines; interstices with fine, dense appressed spines. Colour white, usually with orange or purple area at the umbo; internally white.
REMARKS. — This is the largest species in the family with specimens in excess of 300 mm being recorded (pers. com. P. CLARKSON). In some large specimens an additional shell layer is deposited on the inside surface of either or both valves, forming a water trap within the shell layers.»
LAMPRELL, K. L. & J. M. HEALY. 2001. Spondylidae (Bivalvia) from New Caledonia and adjacent waters. Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 185: 111-163 (In: P. Bouchet & B. A. Marshall Eds., Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos 22). [p. 155]
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Spondylus varius Sowerby, 1827; K. L. Lamprell & J. M. Healy, 2001, Spondylidae from New Caledonia and adjacent waters, figure 14G.
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«Taxanomic history of Spondylus varius. Confusion concerning the date of publication of the description of Spondylus varius stems from the fact that Sowerby I chose to publish this text in an appendix to the auction catalogue of Samuel Stutchbury's collection (principally of Polynesian shells and artefacts). Tomlin (1937) located incomplete copies of the catalogue, each with the date 'July 1827' added to a MS version of the missing title page and noted the discrepancy between this date and the tentative date '? 1829' written on the Natural History Museum's (then only) copy of the catalogue. Later a complete copy of the catalogue was sighted by Tomlin (1943) allowing him to clarify the date of the auction as July 26th, 1827. Tomlin concluded that this complete copy of the catalogue was probably Stutchbury's, for it is annotated and bound into the back of a copy of J.G. Children's Lamarck's Genera of Shells bearing Stutchbury's signature). Although it is impossible to state the exact date of publication of the auction catalogue, it seems almost certain that this occurred in the first few months of 1827, and not in 1826. For some reason, however, the year 1829 has regularly been associated with the name Spondylus varius Sowerby and, at present, the labels of the atural History Museum specimen figured by G.B. Sowerby II (1847) and Reve (1856) still bear the date 1829. Fulton (1915) appears to be the first author to cite 1829 as the authority year for S. varius Sowerby. Conceivably however, the first usage of this erroneous date may have been earlier than 1915, perhaps arising in dealers' listings and subsequently repeated by Fulton.
To our knowledge, alteration of the name S. varius to S. varians was first made by Sowerby (1847) and unaccompanied by any explanation. This name change appears deliberate and not a lapsus calami as it occurs not only in Sowerby's (1847) main text but also in his List of Figures and Alphabetical Index.
Tomlin (1937: 350) considered the original description of S. varius (Sowerby, 1827) to be 'rather vague, and one rather suspects that it may have been taken from a series comprising more than one species'" Undoubtedly this view was influenced not only by Sowerby's choice of name (varius) but also his admission that 'Under all other circumstances their form is exceedingly varied' (Sowerby, 1827b: 2). Sowerby (1827a, b) did not illustrate S. varius nor did he mention deposition of any type material. It is clear from Sowerby's original description that he was familiar with his new species outside of the series of specimens included in the auction ('Many of the specimens of this shell are extremely beautiful, and there is in the Sale an interesting series of specimens of different sizes and variously circumstanced', Sowerby, 1827b: 2). The neotype, figured by Sowerby (1847, pI. 86, fig. 21) and Reeve (1856, pI. 1, fig. 3.) (BMNH 1952.10.30.3.), has obvious historical significance, but to our knowledge, there is no surviving documentation to prove that it originated from the material offered in the auction catalogue or from other material used by Sowerby in his 1827 description (or from material collected after 1827). Associated with this specimen in the Natural History Museum is a note stating that it has no type status. Reeve (1856) referred to this shell as being from Cuming's collection ('Cuming Mus.') but as to the ultimate source of this specimen nothing is known, other than it was collected in the 'Pacific Islands' .
Our reasons for nominating BMNH 1952.10.30.3. as neotype are: 1) this shell was accepted both by G.B. Sowerby II (1847) and Reeve (1856) (and presumably also Sowerby I who died in 1854), as characterising the species, and is accurately illustrated in colour by both authors; 2) the specimen is in an excellent state of preservation, even though the liquid contents of the water chambers have been lost through gradual evaporation; 3) the locality data associated with this specimen ('Pacific Islands') reasonably accurately reflects the known distribution of S. varius, although the species has yet to be collected from the eastern Pacific or the Indian Ocean. Nomination of a neotype is here deemed necessary to eliminate any doubts concerning the validity of S. varius (e.g. Tomlin's (1937) comment that the species may have been based on specimens of more than one species).»
HEALY, J. M., K. L. LAMPRELL & J. L. KEYS. 2001. The 'water-trap' spiny oyster, Spondylus varius GB. Sowerby I, 1827 (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Spondylidae) from Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 46 (2): 577-588, figs. 1-6. [p. 584, 585]
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Spondylus varians, Sowerby: G. B. Sowerby II, 1847, Monograph of the genus Spondylus, Thesaurus conchyliorum, plate 86, figures 21, 22.
Spondylus varians, Sowerby; L. A. Reeve, 1856, Monograph of the genus Spondylus, Conchologia Iconica, plate 1, figure 3.
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