Eastern Banded Tulips of NC
I find myself regularly looking up this paper: A Review of the Living Cinctura Banded Tulip Shells (Gastropoda: Fasciolariidae), with the Descriptions of Four New Subspecies and a New Subgenus by Edward J. Petuch and David P. Berschauer. Published 2020 in the Festivus Volume 52 Issue 4 Pages 316-334.
So I wanted to post what I look at the most here so it'll be easier to review.
Off the North Carolina coast, we have two Cinctura spp.
First, we have Cinctura hunteria Perry, 1811, which is a synonym of Fasciolaria distans Lamarck, 1822. This is the widest ranging Cinctura species, extending from Cape Hatteras, NC to around almost all of the Florida coast until the Apalachicola Bay, where the freshwater from the river acts as a barrier between C. hunteria and the Western subspecies C. hunteria apalachee. This species prefers intertidal sand flats and is associated with beds of sea grasses and is also found in tidal pools. The base color is cream-white or bluish-white overlaid with bluish-brown or dark khaki-green stripes. The number of dark bands on the body whorl varies from 5-6, with most specimens having 5 lines. Occasionally, specimens will have few finer lines in between the larger bands. Some specimens have scattered bright orange bands and patches, especially along subsutural area of shoulders and on parietal area of the aperture. Siphonal canal is very short and broad- it's the least developed of all the species with 12-14 cords. The early postnuclear whorls are smooth and unornamented. (Page 318)
A little further out from Cape Hatteras to about halfway down Florida's Atlantic coast, we have Cinctura keatonorum Petuch, 2014 found 30-50m offshore on areas of shell hash and coarse sand and is often associated with calico scallop beds. Calico scallops Argopecten gibbus carolinensis are a commercial fishery item, so C. keatonorum is often collected as a bycatch of scallop dredging. The base color is pale-salmon orange overlaid with irregular, narrow, dark orange-tan or salmon orange flammules (flame-shaped markings). This species has 6 thin, prominent, dark brown lines with thin, less developed lines sometime present. The parietal area has a bright-orange-tan glaze. The siphonal canal is short with 7 large raised cords. The postnuclear whorls are ornamented with sulci and knobs which can be suppressed by prominent spiral grooves. It's larger and more elongated with a higher and more protracted spire than C. hunteria. Look for the salmon-ornage color and heavily sculptured grooved early whorls to tell it apart. (Page 323)
