MATERIAL EXAMINED: Holotype - Length 23 mm, width 15 mm; 250 m depth off Panglao, Bohol Is., Philippines; June 1978;DMNHNo. 126393.
SHELL DESCRIPTION: Thick, stocky, pyriform with wide shoulder; spire elevated, exerted; body whorl with 12 raised cords — 8 large, prominent on body whorl proper and 4 small on anterior canal; 8 varices per whorl; large hooked spines at juncture of spiral cords and varices; at shoulder, each varix has erect, sharply pointed spine; parietal shield large, covering whole columellar area, covered with numerous pustules; outer lip crenulate, with numerous large primary and secondary teeth; protoconch erect, papillate ; color pale cream with 3 tan bands, 1 on shoulder, 2 on either side of midbody line; base color pattern overlaid with numerous dark brown fleckings; protoconch and first three whorls bright pink-purple; parietal shield bright orange-pink with white pustules; outer lip orange with white teeth; interior of aperture white. In Figure 12, the holotype is coated with magnesium oxide to enhance the characteristic sculpture pattern.
TYPE LOCALITY: 250 m depth off Panglao, Bohol Is., Philippines. DISTRIBUTION: At present known only from the Central Philippines. ECOLOGY: Same as that of Pseudocypraea exquisita.
ETYMOLOGY: For Richard M. Kurz, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who first recog¬nized the species as new.
REMARKS: The remarkable new species resembles no other known Indo-Pacific Oniscidia. The only species with which it appears to share any morphological characters is Morum (Oniscidia) praeclarum Melvill, 1919, from Southeast Africa and the Seychelles Islands (Emerson, 1977,p.84;Kilburn, 1975, p. 50).Morum kurzi differs from M. praeclarum in being less pyriform, by having a less developed parietal shield, and by having a higher spire. Probably the most striking difference is seen in the colors of the parietal shields: M. kurzi has a bright orange shield, whereas that of M. praeclarum is pure white (Emerson, 1977, p. 83). In this last character, the new species somewhat resembles a miniature version of the Caribbean M. dennisoni (Reeve, 1842).