After exactly 47 years, the daughter section of Kon.BVC – originally known as BVC-Brugge, BVC-West Flanders, later as BVC-Kust, and finally as the working group ‘Neptunea’ – will temporarily choose new options for various reasons.

The key figures, Steve Hubrecht and Frank Nolf, have reached an age where they no longer wish to expand their collection. Instead, they are committed to ensuring it is available to future heirs. For them, this means a race against time to fully update the database and check for errors, synonyms, and other deficiencies. They can no longer spare any time to organise meetings within the ‘Neptunea’ working group of Kon.BVC. It’s a bit of a farewell to their voluntary work and their role as ‘entertainers’ at gatherings.

The ‘Neptunea’ working group is neither a charity nor an institution aiming to profit from shell sales, but rather an organisation that reflects an underestimated idealism. Evidence of this is the busy schedule that is completed every month on Sunday mornings and the countless hours spent producing a high-quality magazine and website, all without any financial compensation.

The ‘BVC-Kust’ sub-section of Kon.BVC will remain in existence, as will the name ‘Neptunea’ for the working group, the ‘Neptunea’ magazine, and the website . However, the monthly meetings will be replaced by actual study sessions on an irregular basis, where only individuals involved with a specific topic will be invited. We have decided to reduce the membership fee (€10 instead of €20), which is barely enough to cover the annual subscription costs for the website and the domain name.

The primary goal will be the preparation of articles that will later be published in the ‘Neptunea’ magazine. Once a particular study is completed and a PowerPoint presentation is created, everyone will be invited via the website to attend the presentation. Four meetings per year will be scheduled. We call on current members to attract new collectors or to invite speakers who wish to deliver a brief lecture or provide interesting information.

At the meetings, there will also be opportunities to exchange or identify shells using the library.

In Ostend, opportunities were created that are unavailable in any shell collecting association, and it is likely they will never be available again in the future. In the BVC-Kust sub-section, members had the chance to enjoy various aspects of shell collecting, from searching for molluscs, cleaning, identifying, and organising a collection via a database. At our meetings, hundreds of books and articles in journals were available to browse for free.

Through our studies, members learned to critically assess not only the quality of shells, identifications, and data on collection site labels provided by dealers but also literature and, especially, the description of often so-called new species.

However, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. The key figures, Steve Hubrecht and Frank Nolf, continue to work behind the scenes, fully committed, without financial support from either the parent organisation or any other body. The decision made is a temporary measure. Once F. Nolf has completed the necessary adjustments to his collection and databases – likely by the end of 2025 – he will be able to dedicate more time to preparing meetings, and normal operations can resume, provided that everyone works together as a team. Meanwhile, members can reflect on the direction they want to take in the future, and temporarily express their frustrations with the parent organisation in Antwerp, which will no doubt be happy to take over our task.

Frank Nolf

Overview of Activities in 2024

28 January:

• Overview of all Agaronia species in West Africa and the presentation of a new species (F. Nolf).
• The presence of Pseudofusus bocagei marcelpini (Hadorn & Rayll, 1999) in Angola and the status of Amiantofusus amiantus (Dall, 1889) and Fusus grimaldii Dautzenberg & H. Fischer, 1896 in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean (F. Nolf).
• The genus Naytia in West Africa: yet another fascinating challenge (F. Nolf).
• More news on the genus Glabella in West Africa (Steve Hubrecht).
• Reading of the annual report (working year 2023) by F. Nolf.
• New Year’s reception (Mrs. Nolf).

18 February:
Alternative meeting where members were divided into two groups:

• The first group, with Johan, Steve, and Frank, concluded the study on Agaronia and the Naytia/Bullia group in West Africa.
• The second group, including all other members, focused on sorting (family, genus) and identifying (species) a batch of shells from Jeffreys Bay (South Africa). Relevant literature, reference collections, and microscopes were available.
• After the break, the results from both workgroups were presented to each other.

March: No meeting due to illness of F. Nolf.

21 April:

• Continuation of the sorting and identification of the Jeffreys Bay shells, this time with all members involved.
• The mystery of Bullia crosseana Tapparone-Canefri, 1882 was resolved, and a new Bullia species was introduced (Steve Hubrecht and F. Nolf).
• New issues of the Neptunea journal were presented.

21 May:

• Final naming of the Jeffreys Bay lots by comparison with specimens from the F. Nolf collection.
• Impressions from the Kon.BVC Shell Show in Edegem.
• An overview of the West African Agaronia species: PPT by F. Nolf.
• From the archives: the search for Tellimya ferruginosa in Wimereux, presented with digital images (F. Nolf).
• Discussion of newly published books.

16 June:

• A critical look at the West African Cardiidae (genera Fulvia, Europicardium, and Laevicardium) (Johan Verstraeten).
• Digital images from a visit to the fish market in Caleta de Valez (Spain) (thanks to Luc Segers).
• Film clips from shell-hunting trips to Brittany (F. Nolf).
• Presentation of some species from the genus Murex s.s. (collection F. Nolf).
• Presentation of European and West African Patellidae (collection F. Nolf).
• Presentation of all species within the genus Phorcus (Trochidae) (collection F. Nolf).

12 September:

• Several Glabella species from West Africa (e.g., Glabella denticulata Link, 1807 and Glabella casamanensis Cossignani, 2023) (Steve Hubrecht).
• Marginella cleryi Petit de la Saussaye, 1836 compared with so-called ‘new Cossignani species’ (S. Hubrecht & F. Nolf).
• A critical review of a new Laevicardium species in Western Europe, Laevicardium johnjeffreysi ter Poorten, 2024.
• The genus Laevicardium in West Africa (F. Nolf).
• Yoldia limatula Say, 1831 (West Atlantic Ocean and the Northern Arctic Ocean!) among shrimp at the Fishtrap in Oostende (F. Nolf).
• Mammilla indica Bozzetti, 2022 or Mammilla mammata Röding, 1798 in India?
• Korrigania vianelloi Cossignani, 2023 compared with Korrigania amati (Duclos, 1835).
• Olivella stranoi Cossignani, 2023 compared with Olivella pulchella Duclos, 1835.
• The mysterious presence of Notocochlis sp. from Benin (collection F. Nolf) and two specimens from KwaZulu-Natal (collection F. Nolf): is this Notocochlis gualteriana (Récluz, 1844) or Notocochlis burnupi (E.A. Smith, 1903)?

15 October:

• Presentation of a collection of Murex s.s. and Haustellum sp. via digital photos by J.-P. Van Bellinghen.
• The controversy surrounding Acesta marissinica Yamashita & Habe, 1969 and A. kronenbergi Thach, 1915 was reopened after a comment by Dr. Thach in Malacologia, no. 124.
• Discussion of the cockle book A Taxonomic Iconography of Living Cardiidae by Jan Johan ter Poorten.

17 November:

• Roundtable on the association’s activities starting from January 2025, which will lead to the 2024 annual report to be read on 15 December.
• Report from the London Shell Show (Johan Verstraeten).
• A PPT on Hirtomurex squamosus (Bivona e Bernardi, 1838) in response to a query from Bernard Garrigues (F. Nolf).
• A PPT on Marginella cleryi (Steve Hubrecht and F. Nolf).
• An introduction to the study of Glabella nodata (Hinds, 1844) through digital images (S. Hubrecht and F. Nolf).
• A PPT on the controversy regarding the supposed synonymy of Acesta kronenbergi Thach, 2015 (S. Hubrecht and F. Nolf).
• More news on Yoldia limatula Say, 1831, thanks to two specimens from the Netherlands, the difficulty of studying the holotype of Acesta sanctaehelenae, etc. (F. Nolf).

15 December:

• The possible presence of Notocochlis gualteriana (Récluz, 1844) in Benin/Togo: a comparison with several specimens from the Indo-Pacific, particularly from KwaZulu-Natal (Steve Hubrecht and F. Nolf).
• The variability of European and West African species of the genus Laevicardium: new insights, followed by a PPT with more than 80 slides (F. Nolf).
• Reading of the financial report and the annual report, followed by a list of activities in 2024 (F. Nolf).
• Conclusion: sparkling wine and snacks (Mrs. Nolf).