24 
T.A. Darragh 
Fyansford Formation: Keilor (P58646, one specimen); 
sewerage excavation, Belmont (P308688, one specimen). 
Gippsland Limestone: Newmerella Railway cutting 
(P308686, one specimen). 
Morgan Limestone: Blanchetown (P316749, one specimen); 
‘Brittan’, Murray River cliff 4.8 km downstream of Morgan 
(P316751, one specimen). 
Remarks. This is the largest known Australian cowry, living or 
fossil. Specimens over 190 mm in length are not uncommon. 
Specimens are quite common in the middle Miocene, but because 
of their size, complete or undamaged specimens are uncommon. 
Cypraea dorsata Tate is merely a small specimen of Zoila gigas. 
The general shape, fossula and aperture are the same. The main 
difference is that the anterior and posterior canals are more 
strongly developed in most large specimens of Z. gigas. Small 
specimens, like the type of C. dorsata, occur with larger 
specimens at Fossil Beach, Grices Creek, Muddy Creek and 
Batesford Quarry, and there are also gradations between the 
smallest and the largest specimens. For these reasons, C. dorsata 
is synonymised with Z. gigas. 
Cypraea gabrieli Chapman was based on a crushed specimen 
from the Jan Juc Formation, which is very difficult to compare 
with other material. The main differences between it and the 
lectotype of Z. gigas McCoy are a depressed spire, the lack of 
callus covering the spire and the presence of a dimpled dorsum. 
Only one other specimen from the Jan Juc Formation is available. 
This is complete and uncrushed, but has a very chalky shell. 
There are well-developed teeth on the outer lip extending to 
about midway on the lip. On the columella there are some very 
low but distinct teeth situated over the fossula and about midway 
along the aperture. The dorsum is smooth and the base is 
rounded rather than flat or convex. Apart from the presence of 
the columellar teeth, this specimen closely matches a similar¬ 
sized specimen from the Fyansford Formation at Grices Creek 
in all features including the spire and fossula. McCoy pointed 
out there were weak teeth just visible on the columella of the 
holotype of Z. gigas. The significance, if any, of the presence of 
the dimpled dorsum cannot be assessed as there are so few 
specimens. Because there are no consistent differences between 
the two specimens from the Jan Juc Formation and specimens of 
Z. gigas from the Fyansford Formation, Cypraea gabrielli is 
regarded as a further synonym of Z. gigas. 
The protoconch of this species (figs 2B, 13E-F) is different 
from those of other species of Zoila and also from those of 
species of Umbilia. There are fewer whorls and the first is 
irregular in shape, suggesting that it might originally have been 
chitinous and subsequently calcified. Other species of Zoila are 
similar to species of Umbilia in that they have a smooth, regular 
protoconch of three whorls, and a coiling axis at an angle to that 
of the teleoconch. 
Zoila sp. 
Figures 16C-D, M 
Zoila sp. McNamara and Kendrick, 1994:34. 
Description. Shell solid, small for genus, somewhat globose. 
Spire covered with callus, not projecting. Posterior canal short, 
notched. Anterior canal missing; slight trace of anterior basal 
extension on left flank. Aperture narrow, very slightly curved; 
outer lip with well-developed, elongate teeth (15 teeth 
preserved). Columellar lip with well-developed teeth extending 
along the whole aperture (18 teeth preserved). Base of shell 
rounded on both sides of aperture. Fossula well developed, 
concave, broad and spoon-shaped, bounded anteriorly by well- 
developed, single terminal ridge. 
Dimensions. 
L 
W 
H 
Figured specimen WAM 82.549 
48+ 
36 
30 
Figured material. WAM 82.549, collected K. J. McNamara and 
G. W. Kendrick, September 1981. 
Occurrence. Locality 12, Latitude Point, from large boulders 
of pink limestone fallen from upper level of cliff, Barrow 
Island, Western Australia. Poivre Formation, middle Miocene. 
Remarks. This species is known only from a single specimen, 
which has a small piece of the left side of the posterior canal 
broken off, as well as a large portion of the right side of the 
anterior end, including the posterior canal. As a consequence, 
detailed comparison with other species is not possible; however, 
there is enough of the specimen preserved to indicate that it is 
a species of Zoila and almost certainly ancestral to the younger 
species occurring in Western Australia. Both aperture and 
fossula are very similar to those of Z. campestris sp. nov. from 
the late Pliocene, Roe Calcarenite. It differs from Z. campestris 
in that its outline is more rounded and it does not have a flat 
base. The dorsum is also not humped anteriorly as in Z. 
campestris sp. nov. It bears no close resemblance to any of the 
fossil species known from southeast Australia. 
Zoila sp. is somewhat similar to the middle Pliocene 
species Zoila gendingensis (Martin, 1899) from the Upper 
Kalibeng Formation of Sonde, Java, Indonesia, but is not so 
high and does not have the flat base of that species. The dorsum 
is not as humped as in Zoila kendengensis Schilder, 1941 from 
the Pleistocene Putiangan Formation of Java and neither does 
it have the flat base of that species. Of the living species of the 
genus, it is most similar to Zoila venusta (Sowerby, 1846), 
known from the Great Australian Bight to Shark Bay, Western 
Australia. 
Zoila campestris sp. nov. 
Figures 16A-B, E-J, O 
Cypraea (Zoila) sp. Ludbrook, 1978, p. 129, pi. 13, fig. 19. 
Zoila sp. Wilson and Clarkson, 2004: 52, pi. 55, figs a, b. 
Description. Shell solid, polished, of average size for genus, 
globose, surface on some specimens malleated with rectangular 
depressions, with sides about 1.5 mm long; ventral surface 
flattened. Spire barely protruding beyond last whorl, covered 
with thick callus. Posterior canal short, notched, sides 
thickened. Anterior canal very short, abruptly truncated, deeply 
incised. Aperture sinuous, widened above fossula; outer lip 
with 17-24 well-developed teeth, extending along entire lip; 
