Conus

<i>Conus</i>

Conus

Genus of molluscs (snails)

This article is about the genus of snails. For the continguous area of the United States (CONUS), see Contiguous United States. For people with the surname "Conus", and other uses, see Conus (disambiguation).

Conus is a genus of venomous and predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae.[1] Prior to 2009, it included all cone snail species but is now more precisely defined, as are other cone snail genera.

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...
Fossil Conus pelagicus from the Pliocene of Cyprus

Description

The thick shell of species in the genus Conus sensu stricto, is obconic, with the whorls enrolled upon themselves. The spire is short, smooth or tuberculated. The narrow aperture is elongated with parallel margins and is truncated at the base. The operculum is very small relative to the size of the shell. It is corneous, narrowly elongated, with an apical nucleus, and the impression of the muscular attachment varies from one-half to two-thirds of the inner surface. The outer lip shows a slight sutural sinus.[2]

Distribution and habitat

Species in the genus Conus sensu stricto can be found in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at depths ranging from the sublittoral (c. 200 m) to 1,000 m (656 to 3,280 ft). They are very variable in some of their characters, such as the tuberculation of the spire and body whorl, striae, colors and the pattern of coloring.

The oldest known fossil of Conus is from the lower Eocene, about 55 million years ago.[3]

See also

List of Conus species

References

  1. [1]
    Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137813 on 2015-11-12
  2. [2]
    G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
  3. [3]
    Duda, Thomas F. Jr.; Kohn, Alan J. (February 2005). "Species-level pylogeography and evolutionary history of the hyperdiverse marine gastropod genus Conus". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 34 (2). Abstract, Introduction. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.09.012 – via Science Direct.

Further reading

  • Kohn, A. A. (1992). Chronological Taxonomy of Conus, 1758–1840. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 9781560980940. OCLC 24009184.
  • Media related to Conus at Wikimedia Commons
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