The Family Babyloniidae

摘要

This has long been a favorite family of many shell collectors, whether considered a subfamily of Buccindae or with the more recent full family status. The Babyloniidae are attractively patterned, glossy shells that are fairly easy to acquire, except for a few really difficult species that make completing the family a real accomplishment. There are only about 20 species and subspecies, and for a long time it seemed to be a fairly stable group. Then newly named species began to appear and when collectors went looking for references, they found them rather few and far between. There are the original descriptions in the various Sowerby and Reeve publications, then a more recent (1981) monograph by Altena and Gittenberger, a 2001 monograph by Harasewych and Kantor, and an update of the previous work by Gittenberger and Goud (2003). This publication (American Conchologist) printed a short review of the family (thought of then as a subfamily) by Eichhorst in 2005. These all pretty much covered the same names and the modern collector, who was seeing a plethora of new names and new color and pattern variations, was without any really usable reference.