Specimen(s) of the Week: Finishing Off the Florida Pterotyphis

Still on holiday, so I am only making a short post today.

Several weeks back, I figured my fragment of Pterotyphis (s.s.) calhounensis Gertman, 1969 as “Specimen of the Week.” Some people might mock it, but considering there are only 3 fragmentary specimens (originally from the Tulane University collections) and one complete specimen (somewhat unfortunately uncovered with the assistance of my ex, while he was on a field trip with the FLMNH folks) documented in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History, I am still pretty proud of it.

So today, I am finishing off figuring the known species of the genus Pterotyphis from Florida. As you can tell, I really like the Typhinae, as I tend to figure them in my posts more so than any other muricid group. 🙂

 

Specimen of the Week – Pterotyphis (s.s.) calhounensis

Why have a “Specimen of the Week”?  Because you can only learn so much about a particular species by reading its abbreviated biographical information in a list and viewing a photo. For example, is this shell extremely rare? Only found in one tiny locality in the entire world? Am I the only one who has a specimen outside a museum? (Well, that’s always difficult to verify, of course…) Does the particular specimen in the photo hold any special memories for me?

For that reason, I have made a somewhat odd choice for my first “Specimen of the Week.” Quite literally, it’s no more than a fragment. Barely identifiable, unless you really know what you’re looking at. And extremely small. No bigger than a tiny piece of “shell hash” that might normally slip through the holes on a screen. But it represents an extremely rare species, that is only found in one facies of one geologic formation on the planet. And it also represents a species that I have been after for a very, very long time. That species is Pterotyphis (s.s.) calhounensis Gertman, 1969.