Fusus meyeri Dunker, 1869: Novitates Concholgicae, Mollusca marina: 127-128, pl. XLIII, sp. 145, figs. 1-2.

Type material

The holotype was deposited in the Hamburg Museum (Germany), and was destroyed during the World War II. Hadorn (1998) considered the figured specimen as the holotype of F. meyeri.

Type locality

Unknown.

Range

Sierra Leone - Gulf of Guinea - Gabon - North Angola (up to south of Luanda).

Size

173-370 mm.

Discussion

To my knowledge, the last references in literature to the taxon F. meyeri were made by Kobelt (1881), Tryon (1881) and Grabau (1904). Subsequent authors (except Snyder (1997) and Hadorn (1997) ) have overlooked this taxon. Specimens of this very large species have been usually misidentified as F. caparti (e.g. compare Nicolay & Berthelot (1996): fig. 2 (right) and fig. 7 (left) are typical specimens of F. meyeri and not of F. caparti).

F. meyeri can be separated from F. caparti by its much larger adult size (usually double that of F. caparti), the smaller protoconch, the details of its protoconch sculpture, the larger number of whorls, the smaller spire angle, the details of its body sculpture, and by the striking differences in radula morphology.

F. meyeri differs from F. rutilus by the much larger shell, the completely different protoconch, the smaller spire angle; by the different axial and spiral sculpture and by differences in radula morphology.