This beautiful shell with its orange inner aperture was described by António José da Motta in 1978 as Conus chusaki. But there has been some contention as to whether the name is valid or should be regarded as a synonym. Kohn considers C. chusaki to be a synonym of Conus striatus, which was described by Linnaeus in 1758 (Systema Naturae, 10th ed., No. 277, p. 716). He also regards Conus floridus ("Flower Cone") as synonymous—as does The Manual of Living Conidae, which describes both floridus and subfloridus as two forms or variants of C. striatus Linnaeus 1758.
In Thesaurus Conchyliorum, Sowerby describes C. floridus under the entry for striatus (No. 345, pp. 39-40), where he says it is a "delicate rose-colored var., see Frontispiece, f. 558." But there, the shell is identified as C. floridus. Sowerby then adds a notation on species "accidentally omitted from their places" (p. 47), this time describing No. 345 as floridus and distinguishing it from C. striatus—and so, C. striatus floridus Sowerby II 1858.
All this accounts for a confusing number of synonyms: C. chusaki da Motta 1978, C. striatus chusaki da Motta 1978, C. striatus floridus chusaki da Motta 1978, C. floridus chusaki da Motta 1978, and C. subfloridus da Motta 1985—none of which are accepted by the World Register of Marine Species. Indeed, Tucker found that almost two-thirds of the taxa described by da Motta to be invalid, either because the variability between taxa was not taken into account or described subjectively or incompletely—or publication was in an obscure journal with limited distribution (such as the Occasional Publications of the Portuguese Malacological Society). Rather, the accepted name is C. floridus G. B. Sowerby II 1858.
There even is some potential confusion about the author. Three conchologists (and illustrators) share the name G. B. Sowerby: the elder Sowerby, who cataloged the collection of the Earl of Tankerville and authored the Thesaurus Conchyliorum—and his son Sowerby II and grandson Sowerby III, who continued the work.
References: "Six New Cone shells (Gastropoda: Conidae) from Thailand" (1978) by A. J. da Motta, The Centre of Thai Natural Study, 2(1), Suppl. 1-8; Thesaurus Conchyliorum, or Monographs of Genera of Shells (1866) edited by G. B. Sowerby (Vol. III); "Those New Cones from Thailand" (1979) by Edward J. Petuch, Hawaiian Shell News, 27(7), 3-4 (with reply by da Motta); "Why Are So Many New Cone Names Invalid?" (1983) by John K. Tucker, Hawaiina Shell News, 31(7), 3-4; "The Species Described by da Motta and Co-workers" (1984) by John K. Tucker, Hawaiian Shell News, 32(2), 5-6; The Conus Biodiversity Website (Alan J. Kohn, Principal Investigator); Manual of the Living Conidae (1995) edited by Dieter Rockel, Werner Korn, and Alan J. Kohn; "George Brettingham Sowerby, I, II & III: Their Conchological Publications and Molluscan Taxa" (2009) by Richard E. Petit, Zootaxa, 2189, 1-218.
