Type locality.
Precise details of the type locality are
not available but the holotype
and paratype
no. 5 come from off Northern Bohol Island
in the Philippines. The other paratypes come
from Palawan Island and the species is also,
thought to occur off Samar Island, in fact
it is possibly widespread throughout the Southern
Philippines.
Comparison.
There are only four species with which it
is appropriate to compare the new species,
all four accur in the same Philippine waters.
They are.
C.
litteratus
Linnaeus, 1758. This is definitely the
closest to the new species. It differs by
having much more regular and even dark brown-black
squarish marks on the body whorl, which are
always present on both the dorsal and ventral
sides. (The author has never seen a specimen
of C. litteratus lacking the marks).
Although the aperture is usually white , on
a few specimens, a tinge of dark purplish-brown
appears on the base but can only be seen on
the external aspect and on the edge of the
lip, never within the aperture. The spire
is lower and is straight rather than concave
in outline. The apex is not dome shaped and
there are no sutural ridges. C. litteratus
is broader at the shoulder than the new species
and very rarely grows to anything like the
size of the new species. C. litteratus is
most often found in very shallow water although
it also occurs down to 60 meters . It lives
in sand and weed of in coral rubble and silt,
but not amongst rocks and is almost never
subject to rough water and consequent breaks.
C.
leopardus Röding, 1798.
this species approaches the new species in
size but is heavier and slightly broader.
It differs from it in having regular spiral
grooves on the spire, which has only very
vague sutural ridges and does not have the
dome shaped apex. The spiral grooves are almost
obsolete at the base. It has a more rounded
shoulder and smaller, more regular brown-black
spots, these are usually axially aligned,
on the body whorl and there are no yellow
or orange bands. All white specimens also
occur. The aperture and the base are pure
white with not a hint of purple-brown evident.
The lip is thinner. C. leopardus
lives in sand and weed on large flat areas
or reef flats from just below tide level to
about 45 meters. It is not subject to rough
water and therefore possesses very few break
marks.
C. eburneus Hwass
(in Bruguiere), 1792. This is a much smaller
species. It differs from the new species by
having a much rounder shoulder, a more convex
outline, more pronounced grooves on the spire
whorls and at the base of the body whorl,
which is pure white. C. eburneus lives in
sand or muddy substrate, not amongst rocks.
It occurs, commonly intertidally and down
to about 70 meters. It is not subject to rough
water and very rarely has break marks.
