R. Houart & J. Colomb 
Novapex 13(2): 75-78, 10 juin 2012 
1879 and is most probably the shell that he illustrated 
himself (Sowerby, 1879: pl. 3, figs 22 & 23 only), but 
not a syntype. Apparently M. similis Sowerby was 
described from a single specimen. The shell originally 
figured by Sowerby (1841: pl. 189, fig. 70) from the 
Jane Saul collection is in the University Muséum of 
Cambridge and was catalogued as the holotype by 
Bishop&Way (1976: 43) (Figs 17-18). 
The shell morphology and the colour in S. michelae n. 
sp. differentiate it definitively from any other Western 
Atlantic Siratus species. 
Figures 3-6. Protoconchs (scale bars: 500 pm) 
3-4. Siratus michelae n. sp., paratype RH coll.; 5-6. 
Siratus cailleti (Petit, 1856), Martinique, 250 m, JC 
coll. (specimen illustrated Figs 15-16). 
Acknowledgements 
We are very grateful to Richard Preece (University of 
Cambridge) for the picture of the holotype of Murex 
similis Sowerby, 1841, to Virginie Héros (Muséum 
national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris) for the images of 
one of the syntypes of Murex cailleti and for 
information about M. similis deposited in MNHN, to 
Virginie Héros, Richard E. Petit (North Myrtle Beach, 
South Carolina, U.S.A.) and Charlie Sturm (Carnegie 
Muséum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) for 
bibliographical research and to John Wolff, Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania, USA, for checking the English text. 
Thanks also to Alan Beu (Institute of Geological & 
Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand) and to 
Gregory S. Herbert (Department of Geology, 
University of South Florida, USA) who reviewed this 
paper. Jacques Colomb also thanks Régis Delannoye, 
diver and seashell collector from Martinique for his 
help in many ways. 
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