Just For Fun: Miniature Muricids from the Alum Bluff Group

I was organizing shells in my workroom over the weekend, and decided to have a little bit of fun with this display case we bought at an antique flea market a while back. We had been using it to display a growth series of specimens of Muricopsis (s.s.) shirleyae from our last trip to the Chipola Formation back in 2006. I took those specimens out, and created a display of miniature muricids from the Alum Bluff Group (which includes the Chipola, Oak Grove Sand, and Shoal River formations). Surprisingly, I was able to fit specimens (or fragments) of every single species I possess from these formations in the display containers, even extremely rare species that grow much larger. Even I was shocked!

 

“Eupleura pterina” or Pterorytis dryas?

In 1947, Julia Gardner named two species of ocenebrines from the Alum Bluff Group. The first was “Pteropurpura dryas” from the Oak Grove Sand, now referred to Pterorytis (Microrhytis). The second was “Eupleura pterina” from the Shoal River Formation, which was named on the basis of only two specimens, which Gardner admitted might not be fully mature. Both species are shown in the image below.