Huh, I guess even the conchologists got fed up with it! Ahh, it's good to know the current systems, but just "Conus" is fine for me as well :)

Haha yeah, it made things simpler! Luckily I started learning after most of the genus names had changed, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered learning them! I can't be bothered learning the new Conus ones though.

What an incredible shell genus!

Ohh what kind of cowrie is that live one?

Possibly? I did watch a documentary about how dye is made from those Murexes... something about extracting an organ from the snail, so I'm not sure if the shell itself would somehow be coated with the colour? Still, it's as good an explanation as any! Thanks Stephan~