Paintings of paralectotypes?: Conus of the Museum Ludovicae Ulricae

In the early 1750’s, Linnacus commissioned paintings of 450 gastropod shells from the museum of Queen Louisa Ulrica. Rendered by H. C. von Krus, they were intended to illustrate Linnaeus’s catalogue of this collection, but this was published without plates and the paintings have been nearly forgotten. They are preserved in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Many of the shells that served as models for the paintings, including 18 of Conics, are still preserved in the Museum Louisa Ulricae collection in the University of Uppsala. They afford new insights into Linnacus’s concept of several of the species he proposed. Whether or not these specimens should be considered members of the type series of Linnaean species depends on interpretation of an ambiguous section of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.