Strombus tautiranus Curtiss, 1938

Low, Martyn E. Y. & Tan, Siong Kiat, 2014, On the identities of the molluscan names described in A Short Zoology of Ta h i t i in the Society Islands by Anthony Curtiss in 1938 (Mollusca: Cephalopoda, Gastropoda), Zootaxa 3764 (3), pp. 394-400 : 398

Strombus tautiranus Curtiss, 1938 , a synonym of Lambis robusta (Swainson, 1821)

Original description (pp. 191, 192). “The Tahiti strombus , which is called by the Indians pupu (like many other sea-snails) is three and a half inches long from the tip of its first finger to the end of its canal; it has a spiral shell, with the outer lip spread out and running out into six fingers, rather straight, and blunt at the end (as if cut off) with a canal on the under side of each. The first finger, one inch long, goes to the tip of the spire; the second finger is one inch long; the four side fingers are shorter (half an inch long.) The opening of the shell runs back at the left into a canal, which forms a tail, shorter than any of the side-fingers. The entrance of the opening has elevated white streaks, with rusty brown spaces between them. The outside of the shell is pale rusty brown and white, with many white knobs on it. ( Strombus tautiranus . [Near Tautira, in the sea.])”

Identity. Curtiss’s detailed description of the “Tahiti strombus ”, notably the outer lip and details about the “fingers”, and the aperture (elevated white streaks, with rusty brown spaces between), leaves little doubt that it is synonymous with Lambis robusta (Swainson, 1821) , a widely-distributed species ( Poutiers 1998). Evidently, his remarks “... outer lip spread out and running out into six fingers, rather straight, and blunt at the end with a canal on the underside ...” indicate that he had seen only subadult specimens.