Murex (Muricantha) trunculus var. propeconglobata Bellini, 1902a: 99–100

Type locality: Capri Island (Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) .

Original description: “rigonfio, varici mutiche. La varietà qui notata è riferita al M. conglobatus, Michelotti, il cui tipo è fossile del terziario piemontese; la nostra forma mediterranea, pur essendo vicinissima a quella descritta dal geologo torinese, ne differisce perché alquanto meno rigonfia e raccorciata ed è quindi da distinguersi col nome di propeconglobata, la quale velerebbe così ad essere l’anello di congiunzione principale tra le forme di questo tipo viventi e quelle esistenti un tempo nel mare pliocenico” [bulgy, with rounded varices. The— Hexaplex trunculus (Linneus, 1758), reported as Murex (Muricantha) trunculus L.— variety here described is similar to M. conglobatus, Michelotti, whose type is a fossil from the Piedmontese Tertiary; our Mediterranean form, despite being very close to that described by the Turinese geologist, differs in being less swollen and shortened, and therefore deserves the name propeconglobata; it constitutes the conjunction between living forms and Pliocenic fossils].

Material examined: a single shell, presumably fossil, labelled by Monterosato “ M. trunculus v. propeconglobata Bell—Boll. Della Soc. Dei Naturalisti di Napoli 1901, p. 99 —Sciacca—Coll.Adami—fossile?” [Sciacca—Ad-ami collection—fossil?] (MCZR-M-7623) actually belongs to Hexaplex trunculus (Linneus, 1758) (Fig. 4D, E).

Remarks: having been instituted on the basis of insignificant morphological characteristics, we rank it infrasubspecific, and thus not available (ICZN 2012: Art. 10.2, 45.5, 45.6, glossary). Despite this, it was listed as a variety of Hexaplex trunculus (Linneus, 1758) by several subsequent authors (Dollfus 1926; Priolo 1964; Settepassi 1970; Sabelli et al. 1992; Houart 2001). This taxon was not figured by Bellini (1902a); however, shell characters highlighted in the original description clearly point to H. trunculus . The nominal taxon may comprise a complex of cryptic species (Marzouk et al. 2017).