The “Superb Star Turban” is a very beautiful turbinid recently described from Philippines where it is endemic to, and is best known from Davao Region, Mindanao.

It is most similar to Guildfordia yoka Jousseaume, 1888, especially the golden deep-water form, but differs significantly in lacking most sculpture on the dorsum except one or two weak rows of pustules adjacent to the suture. The dorsum is thus rather glossy and is often decorated with patterns in the form of brown lines. The shell itself is large for the genus and its spines are proportionally shorter than G. yoka.

It is presumed to be a bottom grazing / detritus ingesting gastropod and inhabits sandy to gravelly to muddy bottoms of rather deep water around -100~300m. It was considered rare for a few years since its original description but now it is being brought up more often by deep-water tangle nets and perhaps best described as locally uncommon. Typical shell length including spines around 75mm, very large specimens may exceed 90mm – Adapted from Chong Chen’s post

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