Chicomurex superbus is a rather widely distributed muricid ranging from Honshu, Japan to northeast Australia and Coral Sea.

For a long time this common species was incorrectly referred to as Chicomurex problematicus since T.C. Lan’s description in 1981 of it as a subspecies of C. superbus. This is because Sowerby III’s original figures in C. superbus’ description was misinterpreted and considered to be a different species (now described as C. lani Houart, Moe & Chen, 2014) which was what Lan compared his specimens to.

When the holotype of C. superbus was seen, however, it turned out to be exactly the same species as C. problematicus. Therefore C. problematicus is in fact a junior synonym of C. superbus which takes precedence.

A carnivorous gastropod inhabiting moderately deep water around -40~300m, the typical shell length is around 65mm although exceptionally large specimens may exceed 80mm. – Adapted from Chong Chen’s post.

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