That "sazae", which is also familiar as an edible product, was a de facto "new species" -Associate Professor Hiroshi Fukuda of the Graduate School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Okayama University reexamined ancient Western literature and found that it was a shellfish sazae. Clarified that there was no valid scientific name. Named "Turbo sazae Fukuda, 2017".
Currently, two species of the subgenus Turban shell have been confirmed: "Turban shell" produced in Japan and South Korea and "Turbo cornutus" produced in China.Both species can be distinguished by the difference in spine length and spacing.
So far, the scientific name of "Turbo cornutus" has been "Turbo cornutus", which was named by British monk and naturalist Wrightfoot in 1767, based on the sketch drawn in 1786.However, when the original text was reviewed this time, it turned out that the sketch had the characteristics of being made in China, and that the place of origin was also clearly stated as China.In other words, what Lightfoot named was not "Turban shell" but "Turbo cornutus".
The belief that "Turbo cornutus" originated in 1848 when the British conchologist Reeve confused "Turbo cornutus" with "Turban shell".Since then, all research has been dragged by Reeve's misidentification and continued the false "message game."
On the other hand, "Turbo chinensis" was identified as a different species from "Turban shell" in 1995.The Chinese product was named as a new species "Turbo chinensis".However, what should have been mentioned at this time was actually "Turban shell" instead of the already scientific name "Turbo cornutus".
After all, "sazae" was a "new species" that had never been given a valid scientific name in history.Associate Professor Fukuda pointed out that the mistakes were not noticed for 250 years due to the preconceptions and beliefs of the researchers.It is suggestive as a part of how difficult it is to accurately identify and identify species of organisms.
