This presentation is part of the series I’ve developed to facilitate the assignment of species names to the group of confounding white (most of the time) Nassarius* found in Florida and near-Florida Caribbean waters. My approach has been to identify key distinguishing characters in original descriptions of the four named species in this group most commonly reported in Florida and link them to subsequently defined protoconch features. Since there is no known type material or figures for three of the four, this work should not be considered definitive. We will continue to have to deal with conflicting opinions on this group until neotypes are designated (hopefully based upon DNA analysis). Four of the presentations deal with those in the group that can reasonably be included in one of the following four species:

N. albus (Say, 1826)                                No type or figure                                      Protoconch of 3 whorls
N. antillarum (d’Orbigny, 1847)                                                                                 Protoconch of 2½ - 2¾ whorls
N. consensus (Ravenel, 1861)                No type or figure                                      Protoconch of 3¼ - 3½ whorls
N. paucicostatus (Marrat, 1877)            No type or figure                                      Protoconch of 1½ whorls

To accomplish my task I have relied upon the Florida material in my collection self-collected by myself and Phil Poland since about 1988, self-collected Nassarius from the Florida Keys provided by Andy Borgia, the related collection of Nassarius of the Ohio State University loaned by G. Thomas Watters, Curator of Molluscs, and loans from Colin Redfern. Harry Lee has provided constant and invaluable guidance and consultation for all five of these presentations. The specimens in this presentation are those that could not reasonably be assigned to one of the above four taxa (or any other named Nassarius found in Florida and near-Florida waters) and are considered innominate. The two specimens presented are from the collection of the Ohio State University and my observations are limited to this small sample.

*Note that WoRMS has adopted the generic designation Phrontis based upon  Galindo L.A., Puillandre N., Utge J., Lozouet P. & Bouchet P. (2016). The phylogeny and systematics of the Nassariidae revisited (Gastropoda, Buccinoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 99: 337-353

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